Pulitzer-nominee Chris Rose, who took a buyout from the New Orleans daily last fall, has begun writing a column -- "Rose-Colored Glasses" -- for the Gambit. In his first piece, Rose talks about leaving the Times-Picayune after 25 years, and his new life as a freelancer. "Over the past year or two, I have cast about for alternative ideas to the Big City Daily," he writes. "I'm a newspaperman through and through, a wretched, ink-stained malcontent for whom information is currency and life is spent on one harrowing deadline after another, and I consider the job done well only if you have ruined somebody else's day."

Continue ReadingGambit Picks Up Longtime Times-Picayune Columnist

Wemple told the City Paper staff this morning that he's leaving in mid-March to edit a new local news website being launched by Allbritton Communications. Wemple has been affiliated with City Paper on and off since 1994, and has edited the alt-weekly since 2002. Wemple says Jim Brady, the former editor of Washingtonpost.com whom Albritton tapped to lead the new project, wants the new site to have the "Washington City Paper voice and feel and sense of authority about local stuff."

Continue ReadingWashington City Paper Editor Erik Wemple is Leaving the Paper

Conor Friedersdorf, in his annual roundup of the year's best journalism, spotlights two very different pieces from alt-weeklies as exemplary work. First, Mark Groubert's "Box of Broken Dreams," which appeared in LA Weekly in January, gets a nod for "Exceptional Storytelling," along with pieces from This American Life, the Washington Post and Esquire. Meanwhile, Matt Taibbi's New York Press takedown of Thomas Friedman -- "Flat N All That" -- gets the nod for "Best Rant," with Friedersdorf writing that it puts Friedman "so far up a creek he'll need three shovels and a steering wheel to spelunk himself out."

Continue ReadingTrue/Slant Columnist Picks Two Alt-Weekly Pieces as 2009’s Best

While its sister paper Seattle Weekly counts rockers Krist Novoselic (of Nirvana fame) and Duff McKagan (from Guns N' Roses) as columnists, Miami New Times has brought on Luther Campbell, the former leader of raunch-rappers 2 Live Crew, to write a column. "It's the perfect place for me. I am a free-speech guy," Campbell says. "It's just a match made in Heaven. Can you believe that? Me turned loose on the world in New Times. Wow."

Continue ReadingMiami New Times Brings On Former 2 Live Crew Frontman as Columnist

NUVO's Jim Poyser has a side project with longtime friend Michael Jensen, a website -- ApocaDocs.com -- that aims to bring humor to "the horror of environmental collapse." Now the duo have released a free book, Converging Emergencies: 2010-2020. "Global warming and industrial toxins are combining to create a fragile environment, yet in some parts of the world, the status quo still seems OK," a release announcing the book reads, "thus need to educate -- via entertainment -- about our planet-wide predicament." MORE: Poyser tells AAN News that the ApocaDocs are offering their weekly PANIQuiz feature, free of charge, to any AAN member papers who may be interested.

Continue ReadingNUVO Managing Editor Co-Authors Environmental Humor Book

"Those geniuses at NPR, the network that thinks Garrison Keillor and Mo Rocca are the height of hilarity, have shamelessly ripped off ¡Ask a Mexican! to start a new feature, Ask an Arab," Gustavo Arellano writes. "Oh, and before anyone begins leaving comments about me being so petty and me ripping off 'Ask a Black Dude,' I preface this post with a classic quote from Krusty the Clown: 'If this is anyone but Steve Allen, you've stolen my bit!'"

Continue ReadingArellano: NPR’s ‘Ask an Arab’ is an ‘Ask a Mexican’ Rip-off

The offices of Worcester Mag were broken into and robbed Tuesday night. "They stole at least one laptop that we know about so far, and some cash," said publisher Gareth Charter says. "It's unfortunate timing because we don't keep much cash on hand typically. They got us in between daily bank deposits." Worcester police are investigating the crime.

Continue ReadingWorcester Mag Offices Robbed