When syndicated Advice Goddess Amy Alkon used "polyamory" in a headline for a column on a cheating boyfriend that appeared in the Ventura County Reporter, Poynter contributor Amy Gahran took issue, pointing out the word's true meaning described consensually open relationships. Gahran's reproof precipitated a war of words between the semanticistas that MediaBistro's FishbowlLA blog is calling the "the on-line equivalent of a cat fight."

Continue ReadingAmy vs. Amy Split Semantic Hairs Over Headline

University of Texas graduate student Linden Dalecki has spun his first-place prize in the Austin Chronicle's 2004 short story contest into a full-blown novel. Dalecki thickened the plot of the story, "The B-Boys of Beaumont," a young-adult yarn about breakdancing in the Texas outback, into a book deal with publisher Houghton Mifflin. In an interview with The Austin American-Statesman, Dalecki describes the novel, Kid B, as "sort of Rumble Fish meets The Outsider, set in the world of hip-hop."

Continue ReadingChronicle Laureate Fathers Texas Hip-Hop Novel

The settlement of a racial discrimination lawsuit lodged by police officer Rickey Davis against the city of Springfield could hinge on a recent Illinois Times article, The State Journal-Register reports. Under the settlement, which awaits city approval, Davis would continue to receive his full salary until he retires on Aug. 1, 2007. But a city alderman is holding it up, citing a Times article on a leaked Illinois State Police report alleging that Davis and other officers violated unspecified departmental procedures.

Continue ReadingIllinois Times Scoop Weighs on Discrimination Settlement

Rep. Mark Foley (pictured) announced Friday that he is stepping down from Congress after sexually explicit e-mails he sent to a 16-year-old male page were made public. Editor & Publisher notes that in May 2003, Foley "took the unusual step of calling a news conference to denounce a report in [New Times Broward-Palm Beach] that he is gay." The author of that 2003 article, New Times Staff Writer Bob Norman, has followed this week's controversy on his blog The Daily Pulp, and he argues that the newspapers that haven't mentioned Foley's 2003 news conference are "cheating their readers out of important context."

Continue ReadingDisgraced Fla. Pol Had 2003 Run-in With New Times BPB