"Has anybody seen this?," asked Jacksonville Ethics Commission member Pat Sher at the commission's meeting this week. She was holding a Folio story detailing how the city withheld public records from the paper for years. "I have, and I have gotten calls about this from concerned citizens. The public is concerned about the withholding of public records. We need to make sure the public is getting the information they request." The Jacksonville Daily Record reports the commission ultimately voted 5-3 to request that the city's general counsel meet with the Ethics Commission to discuss the accusations made in the Folio article.

Continue ReadingFolio Weekly Story Leads Ethics Commission to Ask for Meeting

Creative Loafing Inc.'s CEO says former staffer Steve Fennessy's coverage of his company's bankruptcy filing is mistaken in several respects. Eason says that Fennessy is "mis-reading the strength of CL's open and resilient culture and how this relates to its financial and journalistic success," and that he is not accounting "for the fundamental macro issues facing media companies and their financial footings." Eason also admits that court documents (pdf) filed last week by Creative Loafing were mistaken: Its July-to-September revenues were $8.3 million -- not $3.5 million, as the document states -- with print revenue declining 15 percent and online sales up 180 percent during that period, on a year-over-year basis.

Continue ReadingBen Eason Corrects the Record

The city of about 50,000 residents near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is proposing an outright ban on news boxes in its historic downtown district, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. Councilwoman Darlene Freed says the council, which will hold a public hearing on the issue next month, is divided on the ban. Freed says the boxes "are not particularly attractive, but I think you have to have access to newspapers on Main Street ... it's about the First Amendment." Freed also says she's talking with city officials about regulating the boxes rather than banning them. "I suggest they should at least talk with publishers about resolving these issues," says Fort Worth Weekly publisher Lee Newquist, who has several news boxes along the city's Main Street corridor.

Continue ReadingGrapevine, Texas, Proposes Ban on News Boxes

Wayne Roberts' The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food covers the loss of "real food," the growing dominance of Western agribusiness, and successful alternative practices based on the concept of community food security. Roberts, who writes about food issues for NOW, is also active in the community food security movement, serving on the board of the Community Food Security Coalition and Food Secure Canada, and coordinating the Toronto Food Policy Council. "[The book] clocks in at just under 200 pages and is a great primer for how the global food system really works," writes Jeff Nield in a review on Treehugger.com.

Continue ReadingNOW Magazine Columnist Releases Book on Global Food Issues