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.
Tim Keck, publisher of The Stranger in Seattle, has a cash infusion from the Chicago Reader to turn up the heat on his competition. The Reader is now a minority shareholder in Index Newspapers LLC, a company formed early yesterday that now owns and operates The Stranger and The Portland Mercury in Portland, Ore. Keck’s first goal: increase circulation in both markets. “We’ve been bootstrapping it for 10 years,” Keck tells AAN News. “Now we are going to be aggressively growing the business.”
With President Bush's proposed marriage initiative, Uncle Sam turns matchmaker. But does government-sponsored marriage support actually work? Chisun Lee reports in The Village Voice on the politics behind the programs, and Sharon Lerner shows how they fall short of reducing poverty. Plus: profiles of five unmarried women -- potential "targets." The plan is the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector, "who derides 'the underclass' as criminal, oversexed, and lazy, makes a feint at remedying such 'dysfunctional behavior,'" Lee writes.
