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Angela Coffel is the first woman ever jailed in Missouri as a violent sexual predator. Riverfront Times' Geri L. Dreiling looks at the story and concludes that evidence of Coffel's sexual violence is virtually non-existent. One expert concluded "because of her childhood sexual abuse, as well as her highly chaotic and abusive home life, Angel uses sex as a way to gain acceptance and affection." In a court "war of experts" that cost state taxpayers $20,000, another witness said, "There appears to be one piece of data that is driving this, which is the fact that Ms. Coffel has a positive HIV status." Coffel has one shot, at a hearing this August, to win a second chance. If she loses, she could spend the rest of her life in solitary confinement in a state mental facility for sexual predators.

Continue ReadingRiverfront Times Questions Confinement of Female “Sexual Predator”

The American Journal of Public Health has released results of a five-year study of tobacco advertising and promotions in alternative newsweeklies. It concludes that tobacco companies are using the entertainment sections of the alternative newsweekly industry to target young adults. The study tracked tobacco ads and promotions over five years in the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Philadelphia City Paper. From 1994 to 1999, tobacco-related advertising jumped from single digits to more than 300 a year in each paper. "These efforts appear to be bearing fruit; smoking rates are increasing in this age group," the authors write.

Continue ReadingHealth Journal Tracks Alt-Weekly Tobacco Ads

A three-judge federal appeals court panel has upheld a lower court ruling that Atlanta can't force newspapers into city-owned newsracks that bear Coca-Cola advertisements at Hartsfield Airport, Editor & Publisher reports. The city also planned to charge the newspapers $20 a month for the boxes, more than the administrative cost of maintaining them, E&P says. The city may ask the full 12-member 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule in the case.

Continue ReadingCourt Upholds Publishers on Atlanta Airport Newsracks

Dennis Freeland, a longtime editor and sports writer for the Memphis Flyer, is dead at 45 after a struggle with a malignant brain tumor. Freeland was managing editor of The Flyer from 1992 to 1994, editor from 1994 until 2000, and the paper’s sports columnist throughout his tenure. He died.Sunday at his home. "One of the last times he smiled was when he heard that Steve Spurrier had resigned," his sister tells The Flyer.

Continue ReadingMemphis Flyer’s Dennis Freeland Dead at 45