A few days after Byrd and Melanie Billings were murdered in their Florida home in early July, Independent News publisher Rick Outzen ran an exclusive on his blog disputing the state attorney's version of events and suggesting the murders may have been a contract killing. Despite the story being disputed by competing news outlets and other individuals, the local sheriff is now investigating the claim, saying that many of Outzen's sources have been correct. Outzen, whose Pensacola weekly has applied for AAN membership a few times and is a familiar face at AAN conventions, tells the New York Times that he feels vindicated, and his work has led to an assignment from The Daily Beast and praise from local officials. "I don't always agree with him, but he is the conscience of the community," the chairman of the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce says. "People have come to trust that Rick's going to be out there, pushing us in ways sometimes we're not comfortable with."
The publication will spotlight a different segment of the local economy each month, and its title will change accordingly. The inaugural issue is Shop Local; Stay Local, Dine Local and Eat Local are among the subsequent issues being planned. "Community spirit runs high where the CN&R is read. Neighbors support neighbors," editor Evan Tuchinsky writes. "The Shop Local movement is an extension of that spirit, something the News & Review wants to encourage."
California's capital city is weighing an ordinance to replace news boxes on the K Street mall area and replace them with city-owned and operated modular racks, the News & Review reports. The city's proposed rule would allow dailies first pick of space in the modular racks, followed by weeklies, then semi weeklies and monthlies.
"In the early years, SN&R was panned, dissed, scoffed at and boycotted. We were also loved and welcomed," founding editor Melinda Welsh writes. "Somehow -- story by story, column by column, brainstorm by brainstorm -- the paper managed to take root and gain ground." The alt-weekly celebrates the anniversary this week with a special issue featuring pieces from a wide variety of folks involved with the paper over the years.
"To the uninitiated, Random Lengths News may appear to be a leftist journalistic exercise carried on by a deluded few, but it is a vital news source for an increasingly frustrated constituency," Julia Murphy writes in a profile of the San Pedro, Calif., alt-weekly that appeared in a recent edition of Swindle magazine (not available online). "There is an essential nexus between Main Street business, progressive politics and the well-being of the communities we serve," publisher James Allen says. "The locals trust [our paper] even if they don't agree with it."
In the old days, when the media reported on problems in the newspaper industry, alternative newspapers weren't included. But alt-weeklies are immune no longer: In 2008, many AAN papers faced some of the same issues afflicting their mainstream brethren in the print media. However, you can still find alt-weeklies that had a pretty good year in 2008. That's just what AAN's editor Jon Whiten did, and he reports on 10 papers that increased revenue in a story published by Editor & Publisher.
In a joint special project with Capital Public Radio, the Sacramento News & Review is seeking short "Letters to Obama" through the end of the year. "The idea is to share our hopes and dreams for the new president with each other as well as with the new occupant of the White House," the paper writes. Some letters will be published in a special inaugural issue and read on the radio.
Marc Keyser is a familiar name to the staff of the Sacramento News & Review. Keyser, who is suspected of mailing out 120 hoax anthrax letters nationwide last week, first sent a hoax anthrax package to the N&R in January 2007. He was questioned and warned by FBI agents, but not arrested, after he mailed a cylinder marked "anthrax" to the alt-weekly because he wanted publicity for a novel he had written.
The California Newspaper Publishers Association announced the winners of its annual Better Newspapers Contest on Saturday, and nine AAN members won a total of 38 awards. The Sacramento News & Review won a total of nine awards, five of which were first-place finishes, including a General Excellence win. "The News & Review is a salty and irreverent weekly packed with excellent coverage of news and culture, multiple voices in columns and two pages of letters," the judges wrote. "Its colorful design is inviting and, praises to the sales department, it is packed with ads." In addition, Palo Alto Weekly also won nine total awards; the North Coast Journal won eight; Chico News & Review won four; the San Francisco Bay Guardian won three; Metro Silicon Valley won two; and the Pacific Sun, Pasadena Weekly and SF Weekly each took home one award. CORRECTION: The Santa Barbara Independent also won five awards.
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