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LA Times staff sue A-Hole Trib. owner
Current and former Los Angeles Times staffers have sued Sam Zell and the Tribune Co. over allegedly illegal and irresponsible actions since Zell's leveraged buyout of Tribune Co. last year.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles, alleges the structure of the buyout -- executed through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan -- and Zell's conduct have diminished the value of Tribune Co. in order to benefit himself and fellow board members.
Tribune Co. spokesman Gary Weitman said, "We have not seen the lawsuit and will decline comment."
Plaintiffs include Times auto critic Dan Neil and former Times staffers Corie Brown, Henry Weinstein, Myron Levin and Walter Roche Jr. along with Jack Nelson, the former Washington, D.C. bureau chief
The suit, which seek class-action status, alleges that through "destructive management and self-dealings," Zell and his co-fiduciaries have breached their fiduciary duties to the ESOP beneficiaries. It also alleges that Zell has de-funded employees retirement packages, raided the employee pension fund for more than $400 million, and eliminated more than a thousand Tribune Co. jobs at the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune.
In a news release, the plaintiffs said they do not seek to enrich themselves. "Rather, their announced intentions are: to protect Tribune Company's pension and retirement funds; to give the employee-owners a place at the table with regard to management of their assets; and to remove Zell and his cronies from the Tribune Company's board in order to save what is left of a still great news gathering operation," the announcement said. Current and former Los Angeles Times staffers have sued Sam Zell and the Tribune Co. over allegedly illegal and irresponsible actions ... more -
War Made Easy -FILM TRAILER
War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.
War Made Easy gives special attention to parallels between the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq. Guided by media critic Norman Solomon’s meticulous research and tough-minded analysis, the film presents disturbing examples of propaganda and media complicity from the present alongside rare footage of political leaders and leading journalists from the past, including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, dissident Senator Wayne Morse, and news correspondents Walter Cronkite and Morley Safer.
Norman Solomon’s work has been praised by the Los Angeles Times as “brutally persuasive” and essential “for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee.” This film now offers a chance to see that context on the screen. War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragg... more -
School Bus May Not Come For Your Kids This Year
Families aren't the only ones examining their driving habits as gas prices climb. Municipal governments, police departments and school districts are also tightening their belts, as budgets get stretched by high fuel costs, the Los Angeles Times reports today.
Expect to be hearing about the issue now, as your local governments cut back ... or later, when they ask you to increase their budgets at tax time.
In suburban areas like Seattle's Northshore district, the Times reports, school officials are asking children to walk farther to their bus stops so districts can squeeze a few more miles per gallon.
The scaling back of bus routes could be an inconvenience to parents, but provided there's a safe sidewalk to use, a little extra walk won't hurt most students. Reacting to the new bus route by dropping kids off in the family SUV would not be the best solution, from an environmental perspective; reducing unnecessary school bus trips is. Older diesel school buses can pump out twice the asthma-inducing pollution of a tractor trailer. (Click here for an analysis of the greenest ways to get your kid to school.)
Diesel, which runs most school buses, has been at or near all-time high prices per gallon, and currently sits at an average of about $4.76 a gallon. Gasoline prices this weekend hit a new record, of nearly $4.09 a gallon, on average. That has some police departments eliminating patrols or even putting their beat cops in golf carts to save on fuel. Families aren't the only ones examining their driving habits as gas prices climb. Municipal governments, police departments and s... more -
Wall Street Worries Come Home to Roost in Greenwich
By Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Photo by Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times
The bedroom community for New York bankers and traders isn't suffering like the rest of the nation, but it's still feeling the pinch.
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Full story at link. By Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Photo by Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times ... more -
Movie star grizzly bear kills his trainer
Just in time for Earth Day: Revenge of the bears! Run for the hills!
(I mean, stay in your cars and roll the windows up.)
"...the bear appears in the recent WiIl Ferrell movie, "Semi-Pro." Just in time for Earth Day: Revenge of the bears! Run for the hills! (I mean, stay in your cars and roll the windows up.) ... more -
Treading lighter with low-carbon diets
In honor of earth day, forgo meat for a day!
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Hip Hop High School
Kids in LA go to a regular high school that has a hip hop program. Keeps teens productive and happy in an dodgy neighborhood. Cool slideshow by the LA Times. Kids in LA go to a regular high school that has a hip hop program. Keeps teens productive and happy in an dodgy neighborhood. Cool s... more
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Tupac, Diddy & LA Times
Nearly 12 years after his death, documents have surfaced alleging that associates of Sean Combs were behind the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur. Really? The Daily Fix gets to the bottom of it. Nearly 12 years after his death, documents have surfaced alleging that associates of Sean Combs were behind the 1994 shooting of Tupac... more
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L.A. Times to P Diddy: 'Sorry dog, it's my B'
The Los Angeles Times apologized for using documents that were apparently fabricated in a story implicating associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs in a 1994 assault on rapper Tupac Shakur.
"The bottom line is that the documents we relied on should not have been used," Editor Russ Stanton said in a story posted Wednesday night on the newspaper's Web site. "We apologize both to our readers and to those referenced in the documents ... and in the story."
Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Chuck Philips, who wrote the story, and his supervisor, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, also apologized.
The apologies followed an investigation launched by Stanton after The Smoking Gun Web site reported earlier in the day that the paper was conned by a prisoner who doctored the documents. The Los Angeles Times apologized for using documents that were apparently fabricated in a story implicating associates of Sean "D... more -
Journo Demands GLAAD Rescind gay kiss kudos
[Via Queerty]
Los Angeles Times journo Tom O’Neil sure ain’t happy with GLAAD.
O’Neil wrote last week that the homo media watchdog should revoke the award it bestowed upon As The World Turns for the soap’s gay teenage love story. Though certainly ground breaking, that story’s caused a bit of protest among gay fans, who have urged producers and writers to lift a ban on the character’s sex lives. The teens, Luke (Van Hansis) and Noah (Jake Silbermann), kissed in early 2007, but a spokesperson from Proctor & Gamble, which produces the show, says they nixed new scenes “”because of some of the feedback that we’ve gotten, and because of what we thought was best for the show creatively”. [Via Queerty] Los Angeles Times journo Tom O’Neil sure ain’t happy with GLAAD. ... more -
Polar Bears Will Starve To Death Because of Global Warming, U.S. May Acknowledge I...
Thing is, global warming affects some species faster than others. Take polar bears. Those cute, cuddly stuffed animals we all grew up with actually dine on seals to survive. They live in the Arctic where chunks of ice are their rafts in between huge stretches of open sea. As the ice melts, thanks to your SUV, the polar bears have nothing to climb out on. They have no habitat from which to hunt seals. They keep swimming...and swimming...and find no solid ice to rest. If the Bush government acknowledges this, it could mean that carbon dioxide would be recognized as actually contributing to the extinction of a species under the Endangered Species Act. Industries like cars and coal hate this idea. They will probably try to re-cast polar bears and penguins as vicious killers so we won't feel so bad when they all die out. Thing is, global warming affects some species faster than others. Take polar bears. Those cute, cuddly stuffed animals we all grew up ... more
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The hypocrisy of US economic relief
In the 1990s, during the Latin America and Asia financial crises, Washington officials were quick with stern advice: don't bail out distressed banks. Don't intervene when stock market and real estate bubbles pop. Let your overblown economies shrink to their natural levels. Pretty much the opposite of what they're doing now. In the 1990s, during the Latin America and Asia financial crises, Washington officials were quick with stern advice: don't bail ... more
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Students in Tehran Protest Ahmadinejad
Dozens of students opposed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's human rights record confronted the leader and his supporters Monday at the country's most prestigious university.
The students, defying a broad government crackdown on dissent, accused Ahmadinejad of corruption and discrimination, and chanted, "Death to the dictator!" Dozens of students opposed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's human rights record confronted the leader and his supporter... more -
The Marlboro Marine
Quite impressive. Be sure to watch Part 2 as well.
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