The first gay couple to have a commitment/civil union announcement published in the New York Times, Daniel Gross and Steven Goldstein, met through a personal ad in the Washington City Paper. According to the announcement, Gross's ad read: "Nice Jewish boy, 5 feet 8 inches, 22, funny, well-read, dilettantish, self-deprecating, Ivy League, the kind of boy Mom fantasized about." He got 35 responses and one lifetime commitment.
Erik Wemple, a former Washington City Paper senior editor, returns to become editor, the paper announces today. Wemple replaces Howard Witt, who left the paper for the Washington bureau of the Chicago Tribune. Richard Byrne, interim editor and media columnist, is leaving the paper to become executive editor of TheGlobalist.com.
Washington City Paper is getting great resumes for Howard Witt's old editor's job, and for sales positions, because of media layoffs, says Jane Levine, CEO of City Paper's parent, Chicago Reader Inc. Levine tells the Washington Business Journal: "It's a great time to be hiring. There aren't many silver linings to the clouds that are out there, but this is one of them."
Howard Witt has resigned as editor of Washington City Paper, effective Nov. 16. “Please join me in congratulating Howard,” Jane Levine, publisher of City Paper's parent Chicago Reader Inc., says in a memo to staff. "The search will take as long as it takes to find a good editor," Levine says. Meanwhile, Associate Editor Richard Byrne has been named interim editor. MORE: The Washington Post reports Friday morning that Witt is leaving to take a job covering the State Department for the Chicago Tribune.
Newspaper companies in the District of Columbia, including Washington City Paper, reached a voluntary agreement with downtown business officials on newsracks. Under the agreement, publishers will use demonstration sites to test three different rack systems to see which one works best.
