Doug Ireland reports in LA Weekly that the new House minority leader carries heavy baggage of money and special interests. Although she's broken the glass-ceiling as the first woman to lead a U.S. legislative party, "she's never been known as a policy innovator and has only a slim record of legislative accomplishment," he writes. In a time when the Democratic Party needs a strong, consistent message, Pelosi is "capable of convenient political pirouettes," he concludes.
Sources tell the Los Angeles Times that federal investigators may be pursuing a legal solution that would actually re-open alternative newsweeklies in Los Angeles and Cleveland, the two cities where Village Voice Media and New Times agreed to close papers and eliminate competition. The federal anti-trust investigation is "unusually fast-paced," The Times' Tim Rutten reports. "Clearly, they've decided to move before the bodies get too cold," an anti-trust attorney tells Rutten.
Shawna Stone doesn't try to hide her transsexuality, and she says a Colorado Springs police detective wanted to try something different with her in exchange for having an old assault charge dropped. John Dicker of the Colorado Springs Independent breaks the wall of silence the police threw up around the case and asks questions about whether the public trust has been betrayed.
