The Courthouse News Services reports that Andrew Diodati has sued the Weekly, publisher Tom Lee and a staff writer for allegedly defaming him in a July story in which a former client and her new lawyer accused Diodati of botching a fraud case and overcharging the government. Diodati claims the story spurred investigations by Pima County and the State Bar of Arizona, and that his "reputation has been severely damaged." He is seeking $2.75 million in damages to make up for what he says was the Weekly's "reckless disregard for the truth." Reached by email, attorney D. Douglas Metcalf, who is representing the paper, says they "have no comment other than to say that the Weekly intends to defend the suit vigorously."

Continue ReadingDefense Attorney Sues Tucson Weekly for Defamation

The Charlottesville, Va., alt-weekly is marking the occasion by taking a look back at some of the memorable moments since the paper launched in 1989. The staff has compiled some of the hits and misses, while co-founder Bill Chapman takes a walk down memory lane in this video tour of the eight buildings that have called C-Ville home over the last 20 years.

Continue ReadingC-Ville Weekly Celebrates 20th Anniversary

A judge has dismissed former Stanford Group Company vice president Tiffany Angelle's defamation claim against the Lafayette, La., paper. Angelle had sued the Independent over a story that reported she had given a reluctant investor a Rolex watch and a lavish trip to keep his money in Stanford, which was shut down earlier this year by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly perpetrating an $8 billion investment scam. In making his ruling, the judge noted that Independent editorial director Leslie Turk, who was also named in the suit, "reasonably relied on a confidential informant whom she believed to be telling the truth and confirmed the accuracy of the source's statement by making a second call to [the confidential source]."

Continue ReadingJudge Dismisses Defamation Suit Against The Independent Weekly

After reading the Weekly's Sept. 1 profile of Eugene and Yukiko Gatlin, former patients of Group Health who went bankrupt paying its insurance premiums, the "boutique primary care provider" Qliance contacted the paper with an offer to help. The company, which doesn't work through insurance but charges patients a flat monthly fee for primary care at one of its clinics, will waive the fee for the Gatlins until they can afford it at some point down the line. "Miracles do happen," Eugene Gatlin says, though he tells the Weekly he's still concerned about the cost of the couple's medications.

Continue ReadingSeattle Weekly Story Leads to Free Health Care for Couple in Need

The Weekly will join The Mountain View Voice and The Almanac in a new three-story building built and owned by parent company Embarcadero Media later this month. "The new building boasts energy-efficient and other environmental features that will make it among the 'greenest' buildings in the area," the Voice reports. READ MORE about the building in a 2008 story in the Weekly.

Continue ReadingPalo Alto Weekly Will Move into New ‘Green’ Building With Sister Papers

Republican Michael D. Duvall has resigned from the California state Assembly amid the scandal uncovered on Tuesday by OC Weekly and KCBS/KCAL. The staunch conservative was caught on video talking graphically about two affairs, one of which was with a lobbyist whose clients had business before a committee on which Duvall sat. Weekly reporter R. Scott Moxley and TV reporter Dave Lopez were both chasing the story at the same time on Tuesday -- literally -- as they followed Duvall around the capitol, trying to get him to respond. In a statement, Duvall says his resignation "is in no way an admission that I had an affair or affairs," adding that his only "offense was engaging in inappropriate story-telling."

Continue ReadingPolitician Resigns After Alt-Weekly & TV Station Reveal Alleged Affair

AAN News has just received a copy of Da Capo's Best Food Writing 2009, and it is chock full of alt-weekly talent. Included in the collection are stories from City Pages' Rachel Hutton ("Spam: It's Not Just for Inboxes Anymore"), New Times Broward-Palm Beach's John Linn ("Highway to Hog Heaven"), SF Weekly's Peter Jamison ("Out of the Wild"), The Stranger's Bethany Jean Clement ("The Beauty of the Beast"), Washington City Paper's Tim Carman ("How Not to Hire a Chef"), and Westword's Jason Sheehan ("The Last of the Great $10 Steaks"). The book also includes a selection from Houston Press food writer Robb Walsh's book on oysters, and is slated to be released this fall.

Continue ReadingHandful of Alt-Weekly Pieces End Up in ‘Best Food Writing 2009’

BW's iPhone app that will provide users details about local happy hours should be available next week, according to KTRV-TV. The app will include need-to-know information on each happy hour, including travel directions and details on drink specials. "If there's something in particular you want to go and do you can really narrow it down and not play the guessing game," the Weekly's Shea Sutton says.

Continue ReadingBoise Weekly Working on Happy Hour iPhone App

The paper reported this morning that it has called off this year's Detour Festival. "Call it festival fatigue," music editor Randall Roberts writes. "Blame the economy, the industry, the biz, the Powers That Be, the health care system, or the glut of afternoon-into-evening music events." Roberts reports that there are rumors of "a different kind of musical event for the fall, to take place one of the city's gorgeous open-air facilities."

Continue ReadingL.A. Weekly Music Festival Goes ‘On Hiatus’