Fire the Talent: In her 21 years at the News-Press, Melinda Burns was the best reporter and the most dedicated person I ever worked with. So Wendy McCaw fired her Friday. Why? The suspicion by many is that it was because Burns was a leader in the unionization effort. And the brain drain goes on. So far, nearly 30 editors, reporters, and designers have left since the meltdown began July 6.
McCune honored for lifetime achievement; Wendy sues The Indy; Wedding bells for Ellen?; Political signs of the times; Caught in a Health Net; Honoring Harriet; Diamonds in the Rough
Barney suggests places to walk, eat, and play for all ages this coming Halloween weekend.
While watching those oh-so-sincere “experts” on TV slamming California ballot initiatives, keep in mind that Big Oil and Big Tobacco are paying some of them to sing their tune.If Alice Huffman, who heads the California NAACP, hadn’t been paid $160,000 by the tobacco lobby would she be all over TV blowing smoke about Prop. 86, which would raise the cigarette tax an additional $2.60 a pack?
Barney chats with Mayor Marty Blum about how the art that now decorates Santa Barbara’s main drag came to be.
Barney’s first Friday afternoon column, where he lays out what to see, eat, and do every weekend.
Woody Allen Coming: I always thought that the Woodman never ventured from his beloved New York (except to make a movie or two in London), but he and his jazz band will hit the Lobero on December 17. This is going to be one hot ticket when they go on sale October 28. Price: $125, or $250 for a limited number of good seats that include a six-course dinner at The Palace Grill.
Our barge churned along the gently flowing River Shannon, black-and-white cows munched on the starboard bank, and a trio of ruddy-faced fishermen dangled their lines to the port. Fat white swans floated by, trailed by their babies.
Lara Cassell makes sense out of Measure P : Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman come to the premiere of Stranger Than Fiction, hosted by the SBIFF : More NPers go to S.L.O. : Richard Berti and Bill Levy on the Appeals docket : Ensemble switcheroo : Chef Rocco mixes it up with Elements’s Paul Becking : Solstice Halloween benefit : Barnaby Conrad at Tecolote
Free the Evil Weed? When I was a young court reporter here in the early 1960s, I covered a trial where a middle-aged man was accused of (gasp!) possessing half a joint. His old lady ratted him out and cops-North County, as I recall-found a half-smoked marijuana cigarette in his robe. The jury found him guilty and the judge sent him to prison.
