The finalists in the National Association of Black Journalists' 2006 Salute to Excellence Awards were announced Friday, and six of the nine nominations in the "Newspaper - Circulation Under 150,000" division are Village Voice Media newspapers. The other three finalists are not alt-weeklies. Riverfront Times is the leader with three nominations: "Newspaper - Enterprise" for Randall Roberts' "It Was Just Like Beverly Hills"; "Newspaper - Sports" for Mike Seely's "Alley Cat"; and "Newspaper - Features" for Ben Westhoff's "Rap vs. Rapture." Dallas Observer has two contenders in the "Newspaper - Sports" category: Keven McAlester for "Balls Out" and Paul Kix for "Alone No More." Finally, Chuck Strouse of Miami New Times is nominated in the "Newspaper - Commentary" category for "Free this Priest." The awards recognize exemplary coverage of people or issues in the African diaspora. Winners will be announced August 19 at the NABJ convention in Indianapolis.
Former Dallas Observer columnist Laura Miller has been the city's mayor since 2002. CBS 11 News reports that she has decided not to run again next year because she would like to spend more time with her family. That is good news for other candidates, such as Zac Crain -- also an erstwhile Observer writer.
Kentucky state employees were prevented from accessing BluegrassReport.com today, a day after the blog's author criticized Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher in an article in the The New York Times. When Mark Nickolas, a Louisville Eccentric Observer columnist and former Democratic political consultant, wrote this morning that his blog had been blocked by the Fletcher administration, his report was picked up by political bloggers like DailyKos and Atrios. It was soon discovered that other blogs had been blocked as well and were no longer accessible to Kentucky state employees. By this afternoon, a spokesperson for Fletcher admitted that the sites had been blocked, but claimed that the action was part of the state's routine Web-monitoring plan to prevent state employees from visiting "non-business-related" Web sites during working hours.
John Yarmuth captured 54 percent of the vote and will face Republican incumbent Anne Northup for Kentucky's 3rd District seat in the fall, The Courier-Journal reports. Yarmuth sold the Louisville Eccentric Observer in 2003, but he continued writing a political column for the weekly until he announced his candidacy in January. Northup's campaign chairman called Yarmuth's victory "very underwhelming" and said that Yarmuth "may represent the majority view of that offbeat newspaper of his, The LEO, but it is a certain fact he doesn't represent the majority view of the voters in Jefferson County." Yarmuth, in his victory speech, said that he "welcome[s] a contest which pits [Northup's] perspective on the way the world works and mine."
Habitual readers of AAN News may experience deja vu upon hearing that erstwhile Observer writer Zac Crain officially announced his candidacy for mayor of Dallas yesterday. Unlike current Dallas mayor -- and former Observer columnist -- Laura Miller, Crain didn't write about politics: He served as the Observer's music editor before joining the staff of American Airlines' American Way magazine. In his announcement speech, Crain said, "We can do this. I know this in my heart and in my head."
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