Arianna Huffington said last night at a conference that the Huffington Post is planning to expand into local news, according to ReadWriteWeb. Initially, the site will launch an edited news aggregation site (similar to the main Huffington Post site) localized for the metro area around Chicago, which will be managed by a single editor. "We are aspiring to be a newspaper in that we want to covering all news [sic], not just the political blogging the way we began," Huffington said.

Continue ReadingHuffington Post Will Expand into Local News

The other shoe has dropped. Times-Shamrock just announced that it is buying Cleveland Free Times as well as the Cleveland Scene, and will merge the two publications into a single paper on July 23. The new paper will be called the Scene, and current Free Times publisher Matt Fabyan will run it. "This is a great addition to our existing group of alternative newsweeklies," says Don Farley, group publisher of Times-Shamrock's stable of alt-weeklies, which now numbers five. "We look forward to serving the greater Cleveland community for many, many years." UPDATE: Fabyan tells the Plain-Dealer that the deal had "been in the works for a while," and Crain's Cleveland Business reports that staffers at each paper are being asked to reapply to the new paper.

Continue ReadingTimes-Shamrock Buys Cleveland Free Times, Cleveland Scene

Village Voice Media announced today it is selling the Cleveland Scene to Times-Shamrock Communications. Terms of the purchase agreement are not being disclosed; the deal is expected to close on June 25. "We more than achieved our journalistic goals in Cleveland," VVM CEO Jim Larkin says of the paper the company bought in 1998. "This is a staff of remarkably talented and hard-working people. Unfortunately, after ten years, we weren't able to achieve our financial objectives." Times-Shamrock also owns AAN members Baltimore City Paper, Metro Times, the Orlando Weekly, and the San Antonio Current.

Continue ReadingVVM to Sell Cleveland Scene to Times-Shamrock

Bill Lascher says in an email that June 25 will be his last day as editor of the Reporter, as he leaves to attend a new master's program in specialized journalism at the University of Southern California. He will be replaced by Michael Sullivan, who was previously a writer at the Fresno Business Journal and a freelancer with the Reporter and the Ventura County Star.

Continue ReadingVentura County Reporter Editor Steps Down

Converse pulled together N.E.R.D.'s Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes and indie electronic up-and-comer Santogold to produce a song called "My Drive Thru," Brandweek reports. The shoe company has made the song available for free download at Converse.com, and will push the song in the "Three Artists, One Song" ad campaign that will appear in a number of AAN papers.

Continue ReadingHip-Hoppers and Indie Rockers Help Sell Chuck Taylors