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Rose Farley of the Dallas Observer tells the riveting story of Murdine "Baby Ruth" Berry, who fought a years-long legal battle to get back the bulk of the 100 acres her great-grandfather, a freed slave, paid a couple of bales of cotton to possess. Farley details not only Berry's long struggle to keep possession of the family farm, but the emotional scars it left on her. "If they think I'm going anywhere, I'm not going anywhere," Berry tells the Observer. "I'll stay here. I don't intend to give it up. I'm a fighting monster."

Continue ReadingWoman Fights to Keep Her Land

Populist firebrand and former Dallas Observer columnist Laura Miller received 48.8 percent of the vote in yesterday's mayoral election in Dallas, and now faces a runoff against Tom Dunning, a well-connected businessman. Miller's campaign stressed a return to basics: fixing potholes, building parks and improving the police department.

Continue ReadingFormer Alt-Weekly Columnist Faces Runoff in Mayoral Race

Keith Kelly reports in today's New York Post that Russ Smith discussed selling his paper to Taki Theodoracopulos, one of its well-heeled columnists, for $5 million. (In a letter to Jim Romanesko's Media News, Smith said Kelly's story is "wrong.")

Continue ReadingNew York Press For Sale?
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The Sacramento News & Review published a thorough examination of the murder of Myrna Opsahl a week before Sacramento DA Jan Scully made four arrests nearly 27 years after the fact. Opsahl was shot in a 1975 bank robbery in Carmichael, Calif., linked to the Symbionese Liberation Army -- they of the Patty Hearst kidnapping fame. For years, Opsahl's son has called the evidence against the leaders of the SLA overwhelming. Yesterday, DA Scully announced the arrest of Sarah Jane Olsen, Emily Harris, Richard Harris and Michael Bortin. Police have a warrant to arrest a fifth suspect, James Gilgore. While the murder has received considerable media attention over the years, the N&R's story was the last major examination of the case before the arrests.

Continue ReadingSLA Murder Story Precedes Arrests by a Week