In August, in an envelope with a fake name and address, the Weekly received the piece of paper pictured at left, the paper reports in last week's cover story. "After sharing the letter's twisted contents with Deputy Editor Joe Piasecki and City Reporter Andre Coleman, we duplicated it for our own investigation and possible use in a future story, and then turned all the evidence over to the cops," editor Kevin Uhrich notes. "They, in turn, turned all of that over to the Secret Service. The cops took all our names, phone numbers and emails for federal agents, but the Secret Service has not called us and will not comment now when we call them with questions. Apparently they are very busy these days with all sorts of open or veiled threats being made against our new president."
The embattled Tribune Company, which owns three AAN papers, has hired an investment bank and law firm in recent days to advise the company on a possible trip through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tribune owns the Fairfield County Weekly, Hartford Advocate and New Haven Advocate. Sources tell the Journal that a filing could come as early as this week. UPDATE (4:05 pm): The company did indeed file for bankruptcy protection today, and will stop making interest payments on $12 billion in debt as it attempts to restructure its loans, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is requiring that all news boxes on its property be easy to check visually for security concerns. Boston Phoenix circulation director Jim Dorgan tells AAN News that the policy goes into effect next Friday, Dec. 12. He says that, as a result of the new regulations, the Phoenix and its related publications had to purchase more than 200 new boxes, which each cost $85 more than a regular news box. He also says the MBTA is requiring the boxes be chained, and that 12 inches of space separate each box. The Weekly Dig's Jeff Lawrence tells us that while his paper will eventually buy some clear boxes and put them in MBTA stations, for the most part, distributing outside on city streets is still cheaper and the best strategy for the Dig.
The Weekly has assembled a special issue commemorating different periods and significant events in the paper's history. "It's safe to say that no other issue of the L.A. Weekly has ever included the writing of all four of its editors in chief," writes current editor Laurie Ochoa in her package intro. "I'm thrilled that Jay Levin, Kit Rachlis and Sue Horton agreed to be a part of this project, and as I read their three very different pieces I realize that there is one thing we all share as editors -- an audacious sense of ambition."
Peter Koht, a former reporter and editor for Metro Santa Cruz who has been working in PR for the past year, began work Monday as Santa Cruz's temporary economic development coordinator. "While Santa Cruz leaders tout Koht's PR credentials as crucial to forming strong relationships between businesses and the city," the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports, "union leaders and others have raised eyebrows at the city's hiring practices and wonder if now is the right time to appoint someone with little business experience to a business job that pays $35 per hour."
Landmark Media announced Tuesday that the credit crunch forced it to take the Virginian-Pilot and its affiliates in the Norfolk, Va. area, including Port Folio Weekly, off the market. Landmark vice chairman Richard F. Barry III says the company will resume the sale when the economy improves, but in the meantime it remains open to offers. The move does not affect Style Weekly, the other AAN member paper based in Virginia that is owned by Landmark, because it is not part of the Virginian-Pilot Media group.
When First Night, the annual New Year's Eve celebration, was trying to find an artist to create buttons for this year's festival, it turned to Boston's Weekly Dig. First Night spokeswoman Joyce Linehan tells the Boston Globe that once organizers decided they wanted an illustrator, they asked staffers at the paper for recommendations, since they work with illustrators all the time.
An ad placed by the Albuquerque Police Department this week in The Alibi asks "people who hang out with crooks" to do part-time work for the police, the AP reports. The ad reads, in part: "Make some extra cash! Drug use and criminal record OK." Capt. Joe Hudson says the department received more than 30 responses in two days.
Plagued by an advertising decline, The Virginian-Pilot is cutting at least 125 positions, mostly through layoffs and shutting affiliated publications. The company has closed Link, a free daily tabloid, but publisher Maurice Jones said on Friday the Pilot "has not decided whether to continue Port Folio Weekly."
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