Condescension in Arkansas

It's not exactly clear what transpired, but it seems a reporter who does freelance work for the Jacksonville (AR) Patriot was late for the city council meeting and while she was waiting to ask the Mayor questions, he asked her to "cover her ears" during a discussion he was having with the local NAACP reps and she left with the Chief of Police.

The Chief and the Mayor say that the reporter wasn't asked to leave city property, while those involved in the discussion and the reporter, Kate Knable, apparently had a different impression.

$8000 in Flowers for Tiger's Return

(If player fails to load, click post title)

Semi-Related: Waiting for Tiger: The Steve Williams Story

City Commissioner Modifies "Racist"

After a series of meetings about filling a vacancy on the High Springs (FL) City Commission, where the need for diversity had been discussed, Commissioner Eric May posted the following to his blog;

I really hope our Commission can move past these type of racist and genderist remarks and select the candidate who suits our city the best.

Naturally, Commissioner Larry Travis took issue with the comment because not only is he proud of his record on women's and minority rights, but he had pushed for a black woman to fill the board's vacancy.

After hearing from several members of the community, Commissioner May clarified that he felt any discussion of race and gender would be racist or genderist, but because most people define "racist" as a hatred for those of another race, he modified his blogpost to say;

"I really hope our Commission can move past these type of remarks which could be easily construed as racist and genderist remarks and select the candidate who suits our city the best.

At their March 25th meeting, the High Springs City Commission voted to seat John Hill, with Commissioner Travis being the only dissenting vote and earlier that day, the High Springs Herald labeled Eric May's blog writings a good use of technology, yet "divisive".

What Would You Do for a Bite of a Google Bar?

For at least a couple of weeks, I've filtered the multitude of municipal pleas for Google Fiber out of the feeds which supply content for this blog and the others which are currently under development. There's just been too many because though it may be a slight overstatement, pretty much every town of any size has thrown their hat into the ring.

That's why I missed the humorous approach being used by Duluth, Minnesota. Though because they're being unique and are making no bones out of participating in a "pander war", I thought that I'd remedy my oversight by embedding their satirical proclamation after the jump, along with a follow-up culled from their video archive.

Quickie: Lou Waters Headed for Runoff

Though former CNN anchor Lou Waters was one of the top three vote getters in the race for three vacancies on the Oro Valley (AZ) town council, he is among those who will have to participate in a run-off election. It appears that the fact, the television veteran was seeking a seat only recently became known beyond the area north of Tucson.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this post contained a simple, yet major error that has been corrected.

Does Drew Carey Want to Be Mayor of Cleveland?

Actor and game show host Drew Carey is a board member of the Reason Foundation, the group which publishes Reason Magazine and he helped found reason.tv, where he produces and archives a web series highlighting libertarian successes and solutions.

He has now turned his attention toward his hometown of Cleveland and other rust belt cities, which he proposes to "save" by using a six-part, web-based documentary projecting sun belt methods, libertarian ideas and his own political philosophy onto the problems they face.

The series will launch on March 15th.

Update: Drew Carey explains why he wants to help save Cleveland
TVNewser: John Stossel on Why Cleveland Is 'Most Miserable'

Real Estate Company President Amicably Fired

The Times-Picayune published a study of the disparity between Jefferson Parish (LA) assessment values and the eventual sales price of homes on Sunday and by Tuesday, Arthur Sterbcow, president of Latter & Blum, Inc./Realtors had been fired.

Mr. Sterbcow's crime was that he cooperated with the investigation and had been quoted in the paper as being critical of the Jefferson Parish Assessor. Lawrence E. Chehardy is a second-generation assessor, who is described as the most powerful in Louisiana due to the value of the Parish's homes and its large population.

"Needless to say, the last people on earth we need against us are our assessors", Latter & Blum chairman Bob Merrick wrote in the email announcing the termination.

"I love Latter & Blum, I love the agents, I love the staff. It was just a business decision." Arthur Sterbcow told the Times-Picayune.

Another Nail in the Classified's Coffin?

Several state legislatures are considering changing their laws, so that some or all municipalities could forgo publishing legal notices in the local newspaper in favor of the web.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities says that such a move will save governments thousands of dollars a year and the smaller cities of Missouri say they have limited access to community papers, so they are forced to advertise in the more expensive city publications.

While the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association argues that around 30% of their state's residents do not have access to the web and that legal notices only account for less than one percent of a municipality's budget. They also suggest that the loss of revenue could be devastating to the industry and because member papers already mirror the notices on the web, their site's higher traffic volumes might actually make the notices available to more people.

The State of Arizona is also considering a change.