In its second issue since reopening after a seven-month closure, Cleveland Free Times writes a snarling cover story on the finances of its rival Cleveland Scene and its parent, New Times. The story by Editor David Eden charges that the Scene "is living on life support and is awaiting its day of reckoning."
The gritty new HBO series "The Wire" draws its inspiration from the mean streets of Baltimore, and residents of those streets have decidedly mixed emotions about the portrayal. Baltimore City Paper's Bret McCabe talks to creator David Simon about Baltimore, the new season of the series, his critics in city government, his former bosses at The Sun, and the decline of the working stiff.
The Texas Legislature, always an entertaining spectacle, has made national headlines this year, sending the legendary Texas Rangers after fugitive Democratic lawmakers. Behind the bombastic redistricting battle, however, another war was being raged -- this one against the environment. Amber Novak looks at the anti-environmental record in the president's home state and to the future of environmental activism for Texas and the nation.
Growing up in Iraq, Azzam Alwash remembers its wetlands flourishing with life. Then Saddam happened and a centuries-old water culture vanished. Now, Azzam and his wife, Suzie, are returning to his homeland. LA Weekly's Joshuah Bearman talks to them about their plans to help restore marshes once rich with ducks and pelicans and human settlers living in reed homes.
Tom Picou (pictured), president, chairman, and CEO of the company that owns the Tri-State Defender in Memphis, warns Chicago Reader's Michael Miner to be objective about reports of plagiarism at the paper or "I will not hesitate to come after you." Several former employees say Picou himself was Larry Reeves, the mysterious unpaid freelance writer who lifted stories from AAN papers coast to coast, including the Reader. Picou calls the reports about the Defender's plagiarism "bullshit" and says he never even read Reeves' stories. "I just laid them out. And that was my job."
