Missoula Independent Publisher Matt Gibson writes a compelling story about the legal maneuvering that allowed Jeffrey M. Smith Jr. to obtain a concealed weapon permit in Montana, despite arrests for violent crimes and a diagnosis of manic depression. But this is Montana; what else is new? What makes this story unusual is that Smith formerly owned the Missoula Independent before he sold it to Gibson, who later sued him for breach of contract and trademark dilution.
Dennis Freeland, the sports writer — and former editor — of the Memphis Flyer has been diagnosed with brain cancer, but this grim news has not robbed him of his wit or his friends, just his future, writes Geoff Calkins, a sports columnist for The Commercial Appeal.
Husband-and-wife team Bingo and Sally Barnes are the new owner/operators of Boise Weekly. The sale by City of Roses Newspaper Company was official on August 1 and formally inked on August 2. Present and former owners all agree the paper needs the kind of local stewardship the Barnes say they’ll provide.
• Read the Idaho Statesman's story on the sale.
In its summer issue, Columbia Journalism Review tenders "laurels" to three AAN members – The Village Voice, the Nashville Scene, and Tampa’s Weekly Planet – for “good old-fashioned criticism of the big boys in town.” The journalism-mag crowns the beneficiaries with a left-handed compliment: “Who says the alternative press has sold its birthright for a mess of personal ads and restaurant reviews?”
Norah Vincent, a lesbian columnist for The Village Voice and other publications, seriously ticks off much of the gay and lesbian community, The New York Times reports. Vincent, whose views are way right of center, says many in the gay community “dislike anyone they see as disagreeing with them.” Voice Editor Don Forst defends his decision to run her column: “She gets people to read her. And if she introduces thoughts that they haven't had, that's terrific."
