Ron Plotkin, who would have been 62 this December, died Friday, August 9, from a cerebral hemorrhage that felled him three weeks ago. He was the kind of editor who could demand accuracy without stifling the voice of writers such as Alexander Cockburn or Jack Newfield. Plotkin, a 24-year veteran of the Voice, "in many ways, embodied the paper's often irascible spirit and its journalistic commitment," Tom Robbins writes in this week's Village Voice. (Photo by Staci Schwartz)
Sexual abuse by nuns is rare, but it does happen. Even rarer are standards for nuns to follow in response to allegations of abuse. Gambit Weekly's Louis Rom looks at one case from Louisiana and its broader implications.
More than 50,000 Elvis fans will pour into Memphis this week for the 25th anniversary "death week." Can the King's legend rocket on another 25 years, or could the Elvis industry be on its last legs? The Memphis Flyer looks at the Elvis phenomenon, including stories on the clothes, the food, the hype, the trivia, the excesses and oh, by the way, the music, of the King of Rock 'n' Roll.
The Kansas City alternative newsweekly bows to the citizenry and changes its name to The Pitch. "Weekly" had been added in 1993, "but Kansas Citians never really got used to calling it the Pitch Weekly," says Editor C.J. Janovy. Nothing else about The Pitch has changed, she says.
AlterNet recently posted an unprecedented collaborative project by 36 alternative newsweeklies across the country on the plight of married priests and the effect of that talent drain on the Catholic Church. Jeff von Kaenel, a past president of AAN and a member of the AlterNet board, conceived the project as a way to demonstrate the national reach of the alternative weekly industry. Don Hazen, executive director of AlterNet, says the project helps "the public understand that there is an industry out there that is independent of the traditional, corporate media; and ... that when you go from city to city, you have a newspaper that represents that."
Tele-Publishing International issues a news release explaining legal issues regarding MCI, the only national 900 number carrier, and how WorldCom's bankruptcy might affect the short-term and long-term future of voice personals. "MCI has assured Tele-Publishing that the 900 business is a high profit margin division for MCI and it is highly unlikely that it would be terminated during any reorganization," the TPI release states. Nevertheless, the company is exploring non-900 number options for voice personals.
Denver Westword's Eric Dexheimer details his experiences fighting the Hayman Fire, a monster that consumed 137,000 acres of Colorado forest. At times it was horrifying, writes Dexheimer. As for the rest of the time? Well, between the scrounging opportunities that could make a U.S. Army quartermaster blush, the spectacular grub, the huge amounts of money changing hands via a bureaucratic ballet, and the constant struggle between bawdy firefighter humor and the federal "sensitivity police," let's just say this wasn't your grandfather's forest fire.
Boulder, Colo., has one of the lowest childhood immunization rates in the state. Pamela White of Boulder Weekly looks at this resistance to the principle of "herd immunity" that drives vaccination campaigns and the effects of immunization on both individual families and society.
