News-Press NLRB Hearing Ends

I am Sara De La Guerra.

The burning question, Matt: what were you wearing?

(And great work, on this coverage, as well.)

--virtual sartorial survey

Outstanding recap. I've been checking this site all day.

but I must know---how big are ARTHUR's shoes?

Nice try, McCandless.

Vladdy-Boy got trashed in the blog comments because he was an eager bootlicker to Steepleton and Armstrong, and mostly because he got his facts soooo wrong so many times because of his inexperience and lack of any help from the alleged news editors. Writing a story about a fire drill as a real event also helped.

This update was worth waiting for & is greatly appreciated. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I'm not even going to complain about any of your typos for once. ;-) Keep up the good work, Matt!

Sorry for the delay, and the typos should be all fixed now.

By means of an explanation, I am also in charge of planning our film festival coverage and a variety of other things in the printed edition of the paper, not to mention organizing and editing the rest of our online content and general managerial duties from time to time.

So thanks for being patient while I toiled away at finishing this.

Luckily, I have some web help in the form of Drew Mackie, who'll be helping post web stuff as much as possible, while also covering news too. And the rest of the Indy staff is quickly warming to the whole web world, which is to say we only have greater things to come online in the future.

Thanks again for reading.

oh, and yesterday i was wearing my favorite khaki plaid pants with a blue dickies short sleeved shirt and red vans with brown jacket. today, i wore a grayish, greenish plaid-ish long sleeve shirt, levis, and my red vans again. both days i wore my new ray ban sunglasses while outside. hope that eases biff's concerns.

What's with all that analysis, Matt ?!?!
How dare you do analysis.
Just report on the neckties and fake furs.

No, III-III am Sara De La Guerra.

Matt, you deserve a vacation. And maybe a new wardrobe. (Kidding!) You're doing an awesome job. BTW, here's one Drew missed--it's in the subhead:
Von Wisesenberger (unless you meant to spell it that way)

Get your facts right. An editor that is no longer with the paper told/forced him to write the story on the fire when even he was not sure of it's accuracy

Thanks for your great reporting Matt. For those of us far away, it is greatly appreciated. It is very evident that McCaw's attorneys are great at writing intimidating letters and filing complaints but don't seem to have much "courtroom" experience. I wonder how long till Milstein and McCandless are shown the door?

video of the TV news stories:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...

http://www.keyt.com/news/local/5149902.h...

Vladdy was ridiculed in the blogs because he flubbed many a fact, including writing a story about a fire drill, with a fictitious address he should have known was fake, as if it were a real fire with a real victim.

The FACT is about why Vlad was slammed in the blogs and elsewhere, not about who told him to write the pseudo-story.

Are you billing your time for this, Agnes?

Is it true that no photo of Travis Armstrong was included in the Independent coverage to avoid his accussation you too were stalking him?

In the past few weeks I recall seeing on the blogs two Huff-written press releases about Mr. Von Wiesenberger (relating to champagne & bottled water). Legal question: When Agnes Huff said, under oath, "I work for the organization. I don't do personal publicity" did she perjure herself?

No, I am the only Sara de la guerra in the village. Sara's blog is the best...smooch.

In the end I hope that the News Press negotiates with the legally elected union because that is what America is all about.

Matt did a fantastic job at describing his observations and painted quite a visual.

Meanwhile, tonight I am indeed dreaming of wanting a bright red coat with furry cheetah print lining, while stomping around as a truly skinny, angular middle-aged blonde sporting a purple coat and square-patterned skirt and walking in high-heeled, long-toed, gondola-like shoes.

Aaah that was a quality moment.

C'mon now, if you describe the female Huff as "skinny" and "angular" then you must, must, must describe the male Steepleton as obese or fat, and not the innoculous "stout." Please play fair.

Here's another article about Wendy McMess in the LA weekly:
http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/wendys...

Great coverage! Thanks very much --- fascinating story and a real public service to have it available, typos or not. I do wish there were a picture of the " high-heeled, long-toed, gondola-like shoes." I suppose they were necessary for sliding through all the muck she spews.

AMEN!! The L.A. Times article (see prior post) is spectacular. Another target for Spendy to sue.

BTW, I am wearing jammies with little kittens on them.....and pointy-toed slippers. Matt, great job. Thanks.

It's nice to have daily reporting again.

Thank you Indy.

That is the LA Weekly article, not the LA Times.

Looks like B.Capello better start doing his homework if he wants to keep egg off his face:

Cappello, who has represented Courtney Love, says McCaw has taken many unfair hits and is a good keeper of a public trust. “The News-Press was going to be sold at a fire sale by The New York Times to some outfit like Knight-Ridder, and Wendy was the only one in Santa Barbara to step up and save the paper,” Cappello said. “Everybody was delighted, until one day, Wendy used her managerial jurisdiction and her prerogative as an owner to remove Roberts.” Added Cappello: “This whole thing is about Roberts and his allies overreacting.”

A fundamental fact of this imbroglio is that six editors and writers, including Roberts, quit rather than submit to McCaw's idle pudd-pulling.

--virtual omelette manufacturer

"Get your facts right" got the facts wrong. Vlad questioned the authenticity of the story because he couldn't reach any officials to confirm it. The editor who has since left the paper told Vlad to go to the scene and look with his own eyes. An editor who is still at the paper directed that the non-fire be reported.

Thank you, Matt. You capture the absurdity of it all so very well. Between your text and Paul Wellman's photos, the Independent has provided stellar and very, very amusing coverage.

Have you considered covering Fashion Week? Some might say that including those apparel descriptions is silly and amateurish, but I think it's just great. Amazing job covering the meat of the events as well.... although maybe you're practicing "biased" reporting? Ha. Thanks for this.

The comedy of errors continues even withOUT Vlad. Check out Rob Kuznia's snafu in today's News-Press. The big marijuana drug bust is reported as being at the Santa Barbara Inn. Unless they have newly relocated to 533 State Street, I believe the host of the weed bust was the Hotel Santa Barbara.

Nel .. I mean, Nipper - You're looking great! It's a shame you're already taken.

What a disgusting collection of real assholes. Scott Creepleton (or Scott Weighs-a-ton, if you prefer) is the type of supersizing neo-con who would fight to the death for the right to drive the sort of gas guzzling SUV required to cart an ass the size of his between the Taco Bell Drive thru and the NP parking lot. Yet, he won’t stand up for the working conditions of his own newsroom. What a five star dick.

And Huff? She’s out slithered only by von Weenersandwich himself. What a world class snake. Look at that picture! That can’t be serious, can it? These absolutely dishonorable charlatans are hiding behind McCaw’s money pile. (However, despite its enormity, it STILL can’t entirely conceal Creepleton’s gargantuan ass).

No class. No respect. No dignity. Congrats, team Wendy. You all slimed your way through court. Now everyone cozy up to McCaw’s teat and take your slurp…you might as well have material things, since you’ve traded your unquantifiable soul for Wendy’s little dollars. Creepleton – treat yourself to combo meal #5 AND # 3. Huff – you can afford to pay tuition at a real school now. Travis Brainweak – you can finally get those rabies shots you always wanted. von Pigpoker can go buy a custom tailored yachting coat with hand embroidered crest of his imaginary royal family.

This entire fiasco would be great amusement if not for the fact that the principal newspaper serving this community over the past 151 years has been badly damaged or worse by Wendy McCaw and her cohorts, none of whom seem to have a clue how to run a real newspaper nor to recognize the element of public trust involved in doing so. She and her crew have engaged in journalistic practices one would expect in some third-rate banana republic, not Santa Barbara. Her disgraceful bullying tactics against those who dare to speak up or protest, including local merchants displaying signs telling her to "obey the law", all of which have been carried out by a bevy of lapdog PR people and seccond-rate and/or incompetent attorneys - there is no other way to describe their pathetic performances at the proceedings over the past two days - deserve universal condemnation. She and her entire entourage should be run out of town on a rail.

R2,

Rob Kuznia is a very talented journalist and writer whose work - if it ever suffers these days - does so by virtue of being handled by the Newspress’s entirely incompetent “editorial” staff of one overweight, under skilled buffoon.

All journalists are afforded – and Kuznia requires this forgiveness rarely – the rather inconsequential mistake like the “snafu” you mentioned, R2. It’s going to happen. Check out the New York Times correction page. Now, imagine you’re a journalists working under a management that offers no support and, in fact, works to undermine your ability to accurately and fairly report the news.

Rob Kuznia is one of the seasoned journalists who has stayed on throughout the real snafu – and he’s one of the few examples of professionalism and skill left standing at the Newspress.

No attack on his ongoing, long-term abilities intended... just a fact, that a similar (to the phantom fire) and somewhat egregious error occurred in the News-Press... again.

The LAObserved blog has an update posted yesterday titled "Wendy McCaw saga continues":
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2007/0...

Maybe it is just me, but all those photos of Baron Nipper look like his eyes are moving to the side of his head like a fish. Why would that be?

Am I alone in thinking that von Piggymeister looks exactly like the Joker?

von Porky?

Are you kidding? Baron von Wiesenberger shines like a baby seal in the sunlight!

I see Prozac when I see Nipper, but my 1st impression of that photo was the Joker.

So Barry Cappello thinks that Wendy "saved" the NP from Knight Ridder and that it was a fire sale. More lies from Ms McCaw. $110 million or so wasn't exactly a bargain, even at Santa Barbara prices. We were hoping Copley, McClatchy or Knight Ridder would buy the paper because they were professional news organizations. Copley stayed in till the end but Wendy kept outbidding them and eventually they gave up.

Wendy paid way more than the market rate for a newspaper that size. The Minneapolis Star Tribune -- a paper 10 times the circulation of the News-Press and the dominant paper in its state -- recently sold for $530 million, less than five times what Wendy paid for the News-Press.

It's obvious, especially in retrospect, that she bought the paper for ego reasons, not financial ones. She wasn't satisfied merely owning an important community institution; she wanted absolute control and influence.

Has anybody snapped up the TV rights to this story... there could be a soap opera called "Santa Barbara"... :)... Bankruptcy Court is somehow appropriate for the soul of our dear Billionaire... Come on Wendy... if you are at all vain, you must start realizing that this is not making you look good.

Matt:

Thanks for the great reporting, very impressive thank god the reporters I work with do the national beat, otherwise I would have to live up to your example. I havent done that much detail since the Terry Nichols trial for CNN. Thanks for doing a great job and letting me feel like I was in the courtroom. Also Thanks to the Indy for covering this story. i do appreaciate the (modestly quick) web postings considering you are doing all the other jobs there. One last comment (not applicable to the indy) please remember the people of NOLA and the Gulf Coast!

M

Great job, Matt, and great job, Indy for the terrific photos and for freeing Matt enough to do this work. The 40-odd blog responses here show that terrific journalism gets eyeballs too.

From Blogabarbara, about Wendy's attorney. Perhaps if he charges her similarly, she'll be in the soup line soon:

Capello Settles in Simi for 2/3rds of $30 Mill

Yesterday, I wondered whether Bill Levy was a bit Enron-ish in his $60,000 a month 'management fees' that he charged for La Entrada -- one of our citizen stringers points out that News-Press attorney Barry Capello actually gets the Ken Lay Award for ridiculous fees.

The Simi Valley Acorn has reported that Boeing agreed last September to pay $30 million to settle an eight-year class action lawsuit -- one of the plaintiffs got so little of that money that she has recently spilled the beans on the settlement awards despite a privacy clause to the settlement. It turns out Capello has received $20 million of the $30 million given to 133 plaintiffs in the pollution-related case.

From the article:

A key argument in the case against Boeing was an earlier U.S. District Court finding that a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor core in 1959 on the field lab may have released 260 times more radiation than the 1979 meltdown at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island.

I read about "Capello Settles in Simi for 2/3rds of $30 Mill" and his $1million to a school donation, like he is a great giver! Seems rather paltry, considering people donate to assure their darlings get accepted and for tax reaons.

"Even less people came for the second day..."

How about, "Even FEWER people came..."

Slanting the message at the News Press Mess:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/148/35916...

I wonder if the guy who did this will get sued:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/166/35916...