AltWeeklies Wire
Upside Down in Pontiac: How Investors Walk Away from Disasternew
Many Pontiac houses sit and continue to decline in value, blight the community, attract nuisances, cost lenders and the city money in maintenance, and pull down the values of nearby properties. Some have resold for a fraction of their taxable values, further driving down home prices around them. Others will sit vacant for years.
Metro Times |
Sandra Svoboda |
09-15-2009 |
Economy
Philly Anarchist Newspaper Keeps Delivering the News Nobody Else Sees Fit to Printnew
The Defenestrator is released quarterly, or as often as finances and personal schedules allow. It is one of the longest-running and few remaining anarchist publications in the U.S., and it began as a photocopied newsletter.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Matt Stroud |
09-15-2009 |
Media
Life in Texas, One Year After Hurricane Ikenew
Back in December, we spoke with a number of people in Galveston, Bolivar and along the bay about how they were coping with the storm. For the one-year anniversary, we tracked most of those same people down and talked to a few more. Here are their stories.
Houston Press |
John Nova Lomax |
09-15-2009 |
Disasters
Scrapping Connecticut's Public Campaign Financing Could Trigger Other Problemsnew
The fate of Connecticut's new system of using taxpayer dollars to pay for political campaigns is about to be decided by a federal appeals court. And, if part of this public-financing scheme is ultimately declared unconstitutional (as seems likely), it could trigger one bad-ass mother of a legislative brawl.
New Haven Advocate |
Gregory B. Hladky |
09-15-2009 |
Politics
Tags: campaign finance law, Connecticut
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's Impotent Dictator
How many Americans will continue to see Hamid Karzai as viable -- and be willing to continue to pay the price of propping him up?
Steven Soderbergh's Satire 'The Informant!' Pales
Soderbergh has loads of fun with a perky musical score and jaunty '70s-era visual hat-tips toward a certain Get Smart aura of goofy charm. But the filmmaker is unable to tease out substance from what is essentially an off-key one-note samba.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
09-14-2009 |
Reviews
In Miami's Jungle of Condo Towers, 16 People Have Jumped to Their Deathsnew
Some cities have fabled bridges where the hopeless go to end it all. Others have eerie cliffs where bodies plunge into rocky canyons. In Miami-Dade, the suicidal have found their own vehicle for death: posh, shining, and often brand-new condo towers.
Miami New Times |
Natalie O'Neill |
09-14-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Is Toronto's 'Bike War' Really a Class War?new
In the wake of Darcy Allan Sheppard's death, the debate has raged about whether the bike and the car can get along on the road. But what's really at stake are competing visions of the future of cities and democracy itself.
NOW Magazine |
Andrew Cash |
09-14-2009 |
Transportation
We Found the First Jackson Five Recording, and It's Earlier Than Anyone Thoughtnew
This was supposed to be the story of the Jackson Five's first single, cut in Chicago in 1967. But while writing it, we picked up the trail of a tape nobody knew existed: the earliest known studio recording of Michael Jackson and his brothers.
Chicago Reader |
Jake Austen |
09-14-2009 |
Music
Ganjapreneurs Are Cashing in on Colorado's Booming Medical Pot Businessnew
To meet an increased demand, at least seventy new Colorado dispensaries have opened, forty in the metro area alone. Many of these are operated by what insiders are calling a "second wave" of ganjapreneurs -- savvy, experienced businesspeople and professionals.
Despite Seattle's Battle Against Some Seedy Motels, Their Regulars Remain Undauntednew
After years of complaints from neighborhood residents and hundreds of calls to the police for service, the city has declared war on the seedy motels of Aurora Avenue North -- five of them, anyway.
Seattle Weekly |
Vernal Coleman |
09-14-2009 |
Culture
Sure, Food Prices Are Rising, but Trust Me, They're Sell-Offsnew
Only time will tell if we're at the point in the food debate to pop the taboo question: how come, despite widespread grousing about rising prices, our food is so bizarrely cheap?
NOW Magazine |
Wayne Roberts |
09-14-2009 |
Food+Drink
The Health Care Status Quo is Hardly Working, but Will We Get Something Better?new
If Congress fails to pass meaningful healthcare reform, it can only be attributed to mass stupidity, not to mention a lobbying juggernaut that spends $1.4 million a day bending Congress' ear.
Santa Barbara Independent |
Nick Welsh |
09-14-2009 |
Commentary
Budget Impasse Threatens Philly's Iconic Mural Arts Programnew
The city's tightening belt has already trickled down to MAP -- which has spent recent decades making Philadelphia the "mural capital of the world" -- and the doomsday budget proposed by Mayor Nutter could bring even more pain.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Tara Moore |
09-14-2009 |
Art
'AM/PM' Gives Us 120 Impeccably Compact Stories of Love, Discomfort & Concert Souvenirsnew
These single-page stories were written, one in the morning and one in the evening, over the course of two months. This timeline, and their brevity, may make it sound like this is a simple little book, but it's not.
Eugene Weekly |
Molly Templeton |
09-11-2009 |
Fiction
