Well, lots of stuff is going down at the Star.

Here’s what we (i.e., media guru John Schuster and I) know for sure:

  • Levi Long, who was recently arrested for doing, well, this, has resigned.
  • The Star is hacking the crap out of the paper, cutting all sorts of wire services and syndicated columns; eliminating the Saturday op-ed page, BYO Brain and Mapping the News; merging the Monday biz and Accent sections; and trimming the Star 200, among other things.

Here’s what we have heard, but don’t know for sure:

  • Rumors are popping up that the Star has laid off a handful of people, or will be laying off a handful of people. Let me reiterate: These are JUST rumors. We have not confirmed this.

Let us know if you have any info. Thanks!

UPDATE (11:25): A source informs us that Star executives held an emergency meeting early this morning to discuss all these cuts. It’s believed there will be a Star staff meeting soon to discuss all this.

Best of luck to everyone over at the Star. It sucks when stuff like this happens.

This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2007.

5 replies on “NOT a Merry Christmas for the ‘Star’”

  1. WTF is up with Levi Long? (“Levi Long” = porn name?)

    The Star sure picked a nice time to lay off employees. Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas, here’s your severance check. For your bonus, you get to spend more holiday time with your family.

  2. And in other news, John Humenik, the Star’s head honcho has also been promoted to serve as a regional executive for Lee, the Star’s parent company.

    I wonder if he declined a raise to help reduce the number of layoffs?

    Also, nice touch making the site accessible to registered readers only. Nothing like making your product less accessible to the market.

  3. Story posted on StarNet hourly update a little after 1:15 p.m.
    11 positions. One artist, one head copy editor, one reporter, so far.

  4. Levi Long happens to be Native American — actually, Thono O’Odham, I believe???? (Don’t quote me on this). So that may be relevant.

    As an aside, wtf happened with that trespassing situation?? “was arrested early in the morning of Nov. 20 when a man who lives at a house on East Edison Street said he awoke about 3 a.m. to find Long in his bedroom, a Tucson Police Department report says.” holy crap!! After this and Scarpinato’s DUI… wtf?

    Anyway gtg – busy afternoon for me

  5. He could have been on x-tasy, which is what Anne Heche was on when she showed up at a stranger’s house and started trying on her clothes. But x-tasy makes you want to hug and cuddle, and when I looked up “cuddle” in the dictionary it did not say “pummel in the face.” So my guess would be crystal meth, which causes (1) disoriented wandering, (2) being up very late, and (3) violence. The only other explanation is if he had a schizophrenic condition and was off his meds.

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