Hybrid autos only hold a tiny fraction of Canada's vehicle market but they are gaining momentum. Sales of the gasoline-electric powered autos jumped more than six-fold from 2003 to about 2,300 units last year and industry watchers predict business could double or triple again this year. The observers said yesterday the only factors that could stymie major growth in hybrid vehicles is a decline in the overall auto market, falling gas prices or not enough supply to meet demand.

Continue ReadingHybrid Market Powering Up in Canada

Overall economic growth was more consistent in 2004 than 2003, rising at what many economists considered an "above-trend" level. When the final figures are in for the full year, 2004 will probably have an increase in Gross Domestic Product of about 4.4 percent. That is about a full percentage point above what many consider to be the underlying growth potential for the economy

Continue ReadingModest Ad Outlook for 2005

Free weeklies like the Planet Jackson Hole of Jackson, Wyo., remain in the competition to publish towns' legal notices, thanks to action in the Wyoming State Legislature last Wednesday. A provision to a proposed bill that would have required towns to print their legal notices in papers that have paid circulation of 500 or more was shot down even before it got out of committee, Planet Jackson Hole reports. Planet Publisher Mary Grossman said the proposed bill was a rushed attempt by a paid-subscription newspaper in the same market and its Wyoming Press Association lobbyists to squelch competition.

Continue ReadingWyoming Towns Retain Right to Publish Legals in Free Weeklies

Joshua Greene faced a barrage of criticism after his story about an unidentified soldier being shipped off to Iraq appeared. Soldiers and others insinuated "that I or the soldier or both made the whole story up," Greene wrote in a follow-up column. "Nobody, they say, ever jumped out of a plane 4,426 times. Okay. Maybe it was a helicopter." In Greene's favor, a chaplain called to say the story had resonance, even if the number of jumps was incorrect. "And maybe I'm a flawed journalist, 'cause as the man [the soldier identified only as "Babe"] packed up his house, I didn't call him a liar enough as I sat complicit in sending him to war," Greene muses. The Free Times published a number of letters from readers questioning the story.

Continue ReadingCleveland Free Times Writer Defends Story on Soldier

The Falmouth Forecaster, a community paper in Portland, Maine, reports that Face -- owned by the publishers of Portland Phoenix, Providence Phoenix and Boston Phoenix -- regularly runs articles by writers using pseudonyms. Among them is Sam Pfeifle, editor of both Face and Portland Phoenix, who has written numerous articles as "Simon Peterson." He explains: "It's meant to be a way to have some fun and allow ourselves creative outlets." The report also notes that Face's "masthead offers few clues to who is real and who is make-believe," with job titles "arranged as if the writers and ad reps are members of a band." (Chris Busby, the author of the piece, is the former editor of the now-defunct Casco Bay Weekly, which competed against Portland Phoenix.)

Continue ReadingMasquerading Media Men Manage Maine Music Mag

The most-viewed story on AAN's collaborative news site, AltWeeklies.com, is "Porn, Hypocrisy, Plagiarism: The Dark Side of Jacksonville's Daily," which appeared in the Oct. 12, 2004, edition of Folio Weekly. Written by freelancer Billee Bussard, it accused Florida Times-Union's then-editorial page editor Lloyd Brown of -- among other things -- staring at porn in the workplace and plagiarism. Brown came under fire and stepped down from the daily, only to be hired as a speechwriter by Gov. Jeb Bush (the day after Bush fired a top official over sexual harassment allegations). Now the St. Petersburg Times reports that Brown has stepped down from that post as well.

Continue ReadingLloyd Brown’s Post-Folio Downward Spiral Continues

The five-year-old alt-weekly hits the streets tomorrow with a completely new look, reports the Boston Herald. In October 2004, Metrocorp -- parent company of Boston Magazine and other publications -- bought a majority interest in Boston's Weekly Dig, promising to increase editorial and advertising content. Tomorrow's issue, with a page count of 56, will be 16 pages longer than previous issues. The Dig has added 200 metal news boxes around the city to accommodate increased circulation, which will jump from 30,000 to 50,000.

Continue ReadingRedesigned Weekly Dig to Premiere