The Village Voice this week tells a story that sounds old but is brand new: mob control of New York City's waterfront. "Nearly 50 years after On the Waterfront, a dozen years after [a] prosecutorial full-court press, here was the Brooklyn U.S. attorney last month, flanked by the local head of the FBI and the city's top organized-crime cops, at a press conference announcing the indictment of no less a figure than Genovese crime family boss Vincent "the Chin" Gigante, his son, and six other alleged mob figures in a new round of waterfront crimes," Tom Robbins writes in the Voice.
Catherine Nelson, former publisher of In Pittsburgh, is returning to the market with a new weekly, Pulp, scheduled to launch March 15. Indiana Printing and Publishing Co., the owner, plans a local news, arts and entertainment publication. Steel City Media, owner of Pittsburgh City Paper, bought In Pittsburgh in September and closed it.
Miami New Times looks into the controversy around charter schools. In "Resegregation Now, Resegregation Forever," Rebecca Wakefield takes apart the pitch to "go charter" at Snapper Creek Elementary School in Dade County. "As [charter schools] have grown in popularity, most of their grassroots elements have been replaced by a new industry of national management companies, many fueled by venture capital and marketing hype reminiscent of the late-90s dot-com boom," she writes.
Narco News published a "white paper" today on what it calls ethics problems at AlterNet. "Today I explain for our readers why Narco News and I will no longer allow Alternet to republish our work," writes Al Giordano, who charges the alternative-news syndicate and its director, Don Hazen, with a variety of conflicts and misrepresentations.
A ruling on whether Boston can ban news-boxes in the Back Bay may be handed down as early as Monday, the Boston Phoenix, a plaintiff in the case, reports. "As far as the Back Bay is concerned, aesthetics are far more important than the exchange of ideas," Seth Gitell writes in the Phoenix.
