"The Las Vegas U.S. attorney's office appears to have relented in its demand for the identities of all of the people who wrote comments on the Review-Journal website about a criminal tax trial in progress," the Las Vegas daily reports. The revised subpoena asks for the same information about only two comments, and the paper says it will comply. "I'd hate to be the guy who refused to tell the feds Timothy McVeigh was buying fertilizer," editor Thomas Mitchell says. Meanwhile, the ACLU of Nevada has filed its own motion to quash the subpoena and stop the release of any identities.

Continue ReadingSubpoena for Web Commenters’ Info in Las Vegas is Narrowed

The alt-weekly is commemorating the occasion with a host of features, including the video of 35 years of covers embedded below, a Q&A with co-founder Richard McCord, a look back at memorable ads through the years and more. Reporter editor Julia Goldberg tells AAN News that the city has also dubbed June 17, 2009, "Santa Fe Reporter Day" in honor of the paper's 35th birthday.

Continue ReadingSanta Fe Reporter Celebrates 35th Anniversary

The CBC reports that an afternoon thunderstorm yesterday "brought almost 500 lightning strikes to Calgary," and Fast Forward Weekly publisher Ian Chiclo says one of them hit his paper's office. "Publisher's computer fried, bits of wall land beside his chair," Chiclo wrote in an email to AAN News yesterday. Reached this morning, he tells us that the office is functioning again, but "limping," with only three computers having access to the internet and the paper's servers. "We think some of the wires are fried," he says.

Continue ReadingLightning Strikes Fast Forward Weekly Office

SF Weekly reports the city of San Francisco is reaching out to a handful of websites to potentially run public notice ads, including the website of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. But Guardian publisher Bruce Brugmann says the paper has no intention of participating. "We don't bid, or go in for these city contracts, and we don't intend to do it now," he tells the Weekly.

Continue ReadingBay Guardian Says it Won’t Run City’s Public Notice Ads on Website