Speer co-founded Chico News & Review in 1977 and has served the paper in various capacities for over 30 years.
Skylar Browning has been named executive editor following the departure of Robert Meyerowitz, who recently resigned to focus on his own writing projects.
The Austin Chronicle's Robert Faires and Jordan Smith were both recently honored for their extraordinary coverage in their fields.
Seattle Weekly food critic Hanna Raskin led a panel of alt-weekly scribes at the Association of Food Journalists' conference last week in Charleston. In addition, several alt-weekly food writers took home awards at the conference.
The Missoula Independent has named alt-weekly veteran Robert Meyerowitz as its new editor-in-chief. He replaces previous editor Skylar Browning.
The East Bay Express announced the departure of longtime editor Stephen Buel. Managing editor Kathleen Richards and staff writer Robert Gammon will take over as co-editors.
When the Times announced this week that it was moving food critic Frank Bruni to a new assignment writing for the Times Magazine, foodies immediately began speculating as to whom the paper would replace him with. The Associated Press says LA Weekly's Pulitzer-winning critic Jonathan Gold is one of the "obvious contenders," while Eater has him as a "dark horse," with 250-1 odds. Eater also pegs Village Voice critic Robert Sietsema an "underdog," giving him 1000-1 odds. Meanwhile, the Times staffer who will lead the search says she hasn't started thinking about who will be named for what the AP calls "what's widely considered the most important restaurant critic job in the country."
Robert Meyerowitz tells AAN News that he's leaving the paper on May 9. He's been editor since last April, when he took over for Tony Ortega, who left to edit The Village Voice. Meyerowitz, who came to New Times from the Anchorage Press, and has also edited the Honolulu Weekly, has been named the Snedden professor of journalism at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks for the 2008-09 academic year.
"It's actually rather easy to go unrecognized as a critic," says Robert Sietsema, who's been eating and writing for the Voice for 15 years. "Most critics want to be recognized since they love having restaurateurs kiss their ass and bring them free food. The Voice pays for what I eat, so I don't need any free food." The critic talks to Gothamist in advance of the Voice's first-ever Choice Eats tasting event tonight in New York, which features some of Sietsema's favorites. They also ask him about the response to his recent much-talked-about story on "how bogus" the popular TV show Iron Chef is. Sietsema says "the funniest responses came from crybaby Iron Chef judges ... it was like poking a hornet's nest, and I'd do it again in a second."
The Albuquerque alt-weekly celebrates it's quinceañera by tracing its history from Oct. 9, 1992: the 12-page, black-and-white debut as NuCity, threats of a lawsuit from Chicago's Newcity, the name change to the Weekly Alibi, all the way to, well, this week's 15th anniversary issue and a newly unveiled print redesign. But it's not all good news in Duke City: editor Steven Robert Allen is leaving the paper on Oct. 1 to become executive director of Common Cause New Mexico. "I fully expect the paper's best days are ahead of it," he writes in a farewell column. "That's one reason why I don't mind making an exit, not too much, anyway. To tell you the truth, I'm eager to just be an ordinary reader, to pick up the Alibi on Thursday from one of those ubiquitous blue metal boxes, just like everyone else, and take a peek inside."
