Originally Baltimore's alt-weekly was known as the City Squeeze and edited by "recent Johns Hopkins grad and inveterate pain-in-the-ass Russ Smith," Michael Anft writes. Anft takes a page from Smith's book and offers some biting suggestions for the Baltimore City Paper at the quarter-century mark, including spending more money on younger staff, instead of "aging hippies."
The Santa Barbara Independent breaks a major environmental story about a potentially catastrophic environmental disaster. The problem? A 15-year-old shipwreck of a single-hull tanker loaded with diesel fuel and copper ore. Ecosystems are dying downstream of the wreck. The story is "investigative and intriguing and has global implications as the state and federal governments work toward establishing a large network of marine reserves in the Santa Barbara Channel, a network that will likely be a model for similar reserves around the world," writer Matt Kettmann tells AAN News.
Robert Christgau, senior editor for The Village Voice, will use his National Arts Journalism Program senior fellowship to write a world history of popular music. The fellowships at Columbia's School of Journalism are funded by the Pew Charitable Trust. Two freelance arts writers, Douglas Wolk and Sarah Frere-Jones, are named research fellows under the program. Both have written for AAN papers.
Ken Stocker comes from Denver's Westword to the Riverfront Times, on a mission to raise public awareness of the alt-weekly and thereby boost sales. The 12-year New Times veteran has a green sales staff, but he's convinced the paper is "poised and ready to make a big push." He replaces Terry Coe, who resigned from the Riverfront Times after 17 years.
Cancer patients from California and around the world are seeking an alternative, holistic approach to building up the body and beating cancer. Dr. Douglas Brodie has a thriving practice in Reno -- the new destination of choice for many thousands of cancer patients, from around the world, who seek alternative therapies for cancer and other diseases. Too bad it’s outlawed in California. Melinda Welsh looks at the reasons in Sacramento News & Review.
