The news rack situation in the Big Apple may go from bad to worse, according to Matt Taibbi. The city recently began enforcing a hodgepodge of new regulations governing the use and placement of news racks, and citations are already piling up: New York Press received dozens within a few weeks, and USA Today reports that about 20 percent of its racks have already been ticketed. Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg is pursuing a street-furniture proposal that may reward Clear Channel or JCDecaux with a lucrative contract to replace proprietary news racks with city-mandated pedmounts.

Continue ReadingPedmounts on the Horizon in New York City?
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Steven Hatfill has been hounded by G-men 24-7 since becoming the FBI's only known "person of interest" in the anthrax attacks. They wait for him in surveillance vans outside his girlfriend's apartment, they follow him to the store when he goes for ice cream, they snap photos when a friend hands him a bag containing homemade soup. They use all kinds of cars: Durangos, Pontiacs, Buicks, Saturns. And after midnight, they patrol the area surrounding his apartment on foot. And if he slips out the back door? Agents will be there. Jason Cherkis hangs out with Hatfill in the backseat of his friend's Plymouth as they drive around D.C. trying to shake the tail.

Continue ReadingWatching the Detectives
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The epic murals on the cafeteria walls of California's San Quentin State Prison are surely one of America's best-kept art secrets. Twelve feet high and nearly 100 feet long, they chronicle California's history, from the coming of the railroads to the post-war industrial boom, and have drawn favorable comparisons to the WPA post-office murals of the 1930s. For nearly 50 years, the identity of the man who painted the murals has remained a mystery. But, as SF Weekly staff writer Ron Russell reports, the mystery has been solved -- and for the first time in history, a former San Quentin inmate is about to be honored with a "key to the prison."

Continue ReadingEx-Prisoner’s Epic Murals Recognized
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UMass Boston professor Tony Van Der Meer and his many supporters say he’s been caught up in the climate of repression that’s swept the nation since September 11, 2001. Prosecutors say his pending criminal trial has nothing to do with repression; they allege that Van Der Meer assaulted a cop. The story might sound like a he-said-they-said dispute. But, according to Kristen Lombardi, it has come to epitomize the potential injustices facing those who dare speak out against the prevailing pro-war, pro-"USA" fervor.

Continue ReadingClimate of Fear

"What should every visitor know about Los Angeles?" American Way Magazine asks Drew Barrymore. To which the 28-year-old actress and film producer responds, "Always start with the LA Weekly. It's a free newspaper you can find at certain stores or newsstands and it will tell you everything you want to know about what's going on that week." Ummm, that’s free alternative newspaper, Drew.

Continue ReadingCharlie’s Angel Touts LA Weekly
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This is a new kind of war being played out on hundreds of thousands of computers. And the stakes are not just street cred but money and prizes and a certain kind of rabid fame inherent to a weird subculture like the one surrounding computer gaming. This is Team Forsaken, one of the Houston area’s best gaming clans, and Jennifer Mathieu watches as they humiliate their friends publicly, shake their asses in other people's faces, wear baseball caps at all times and play video games for hours on end.

Continue ReadingYoung Warriors Gather for Battles in Cyberspace

Steve May, who owned Lafayette, Louisiana's highly regarded Times of Acadiana until selling it in 1998, plans to return to the market in September with a new weekly paper. May and his wife, Cherry Fisher May, last month bought a monthly lifestyle magazine and will convert it to a weekly to compete with the Times, which is now owned by Gannett, also the publisher of the Lafayette's only daily paper. "They have screwed up my newspaper so badly and I think it’s part of a plan to steadily bleed The Times of character and influence and somehow, divert it into the daily," May says.

Continue ReadingFormer AAN Publisher Returns With New Paper

In addition to the layoffs, editors Karen Cook and Lenora Todaro have resigned, according to a memo posted on Romenesko. Publisher Judy Miszner says the layoffs will help the paper maintain its "long-term health and sustain profitability" and are "a reflection of the difficult business climate in New York City." Miszner also says she doesn't expect New York's economy to rebound in the coming months.

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Lays Off Six Full-Time Staffers