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The ACLU of Georgia is one of the crown jewels in the ACLU’s stable of state chapters. According to Gerry Weber, Legal Director of the ACLU of GA, the GA ACLU litigates approximately 40 cases. Weber stated this is the “highest caseload of any ACLU in the country.” The GA Chapter has successfully fought against the state Voter ID law, assisted Henry Co school system set up a Gay/Straight Alliance in the schools and attempted to overthrow the voice of the people in GA regarding same sex marriage. If an issue arises in the state that is in opposition to...

Imagine buying the most expensive house on a good-looking block that appears to be on the upswing. Within three years, the neighborhood craters, your oldest kid starts backtalking and your spouse pesters you to sell the house and get out. Meanwhile, you're stuck with a fat mortgage. That's pretty much what life is like at the Tribune Co. these days. A boardroom fight over the company's limping stock price has caused anxiety in Tribune newsrooms around the country, from an open revolt by the top editor in Los Angeles to "fear and loathing" about potential job cuts among reporters and...

Tribune Co., already under pressure from its largest shareholder, the Chandler family, is facing a growing challenge on another front: a push by some rich and powerful citizens in Los Angeles for a sale of the Los Angeles Times to local interests. The clamor over the nation's fourth-largest newspaper comes ahead of a Tribune board meeting Thursday, at which Chief Executive Officer Dennis FitzSimons is expected to deliver on a directive from the board to present a plan for the future of Tribune. Mr. FitzSimons and other executives have been preparing the plan even as they negotiate with the Chandlers,...

Three billionaires hoping to buy the Los Angeles Times expressed their interest in separate letters this month to the paper's owner, Tribune Co. But each was told The Times was not for sale — at least for now, according to several people who have seen the letters. Since a schism in June on the Tribune board put the company's future into question, reports have circulated that philanthropist Eli Broad, music and movie mogul David Geffen and former supermarket magnate Ron Burkle would like to buy the newspaper. ADVERTISEMENT Adblock A purchase by any of the three Los Angeles billionaires would...

FRANKFORT - At first glance, turmoil in the governor's office and within the state Republican Party appears to favor Democrats in the fall legislative elections. But with just over three months to go before Election Day, the state Democratic Party lags far behind in fund-raising, with just $61,000 in its main accounts as of June 30. ... "There's a big controversy out there as people are saying, 'How much have we raised and how much have we spent?'" said Rep. Kathy Stein, a Lexington Democrat. ... In comparison, the Kentucky Republican Party has raised about $650,000 in 2006 and spent...

The Tribune Co., parent of the "Orlando Sentinel," has reported a 62 percent drop in net income to $87.8 million, or 28 cents a share, from $233.4 million, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier. Chicago-based Tribune (NYSE: TRB - News) also pointed to cutbacks from national advertisers and falling circulation ...

Tribune Co., Belo Corp. and Journal Register Co. said advertising sales continue to slump, signaling the newspaper industry's woes may extend this year. Advertising sales in June "are soft and we expect first-half advertising to be flat," Donald Grenesko, chief financial officer of Chicago-based Tribune, the second biggest U.S. newspaper publisher in revenue and owner of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, said Tuesday at the Newspaper Association of America's Mid-Year Media Review in New York... A protracted slowdown may mean increased investor pressure on publishers including Tribune, which is fending off calls from its second largest shareholder to break apart the...

Dissident group says will continue efforts for sale or breakup of company... Tribune Co. shares gained ground Tuesday, rising as the media company that's been working to revamp operations amid shareholder unrest announced the results of a Dutch tender auction. Analysts said any gains could prove short lived, however. Chicago-based Tribune Co said that about 45 million, or 15%, of its common shares were tendered and that it expects to buy the shares at a price of $32.50 each. The number of shares tendered came in 8 million short of the maximum that the company had initially authorized in the...

In the melee that erupted last week between the Chandler family and the Tribune Company, it has been hard to tell who is driving the Chandler caravan. After all, the Chandlers, who owned The Los Angeles Times for more than a century, are a diffuse clan numbering some 170 members, many of whom have never met one another. One of the major players behind the scenes is Thomas Unterman. He is neither a member of the family nor a trustee overseeing its billions, nor is he one of the trust's appointees on the Tribune board. Rather, Mr. Unterman is a...

Back in 2000, when the Tribune Company">Tribune Company absorbed The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The Baltimore Sun and other Times Mirror">Times Mirror properties in an eye-popping $8.3 billion deal, there was a premise and a promise. The premise was that these new Tribune markets could copy the "synergy" model that had worked so well in the corporate hometown, Chicago. There, reporters for The Chicago Tribune shared their work with their broadcast siblings, WGN-TV and WGN radio, appearing on screen or being heard over the air. When it worked well, information from each outlet flowed in a coordinated way among all...

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Tribune Co.'s second-largest shareholder has raised the stakes in its dispute over the company's strategic direction, calling for "decisive action" by the newspaper publisher and broadcaster, including a possible sale. The Chandler Trusts, which own more than 12% of Tribune's < outstanding shares, had objected last week to Tribune's plan to buy back up to 25% of its stock, which was part of an attempt to lift a stock price that has lost nearly half its value in the last two years. Most of those shares are to be purchased in Dutch-auction tender offer. In a regulatory...

Harry Chandler of The Los Angeles Times and Colonel Robert R. McCormick of The Chicago Tribune were both towering figures of newspaper publishing in the first half of the 20th century. And like many newspaper moguls, both created trusts to safeguard the papers they built and the causes they championed. Both wanted to extend their fortunes and influence down through the generations. But decades after their deaths, the Chandler and McCormick legacies have come into stark contrast on the board of the Tribune Company, the media giant that today publishes 11 daily newspapers, including The Times and The Tribune, and...

When Tribune Co. Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons made the decision in late May to move ahead with a restructuring plan vehemently opposed by his second-largest shareholder, he took up a fight that may end up defining his career. The private battle went public last week when California's wealthy Chandler family made it known that Tribune had acted against its wishes. But FitzSimons is in no mood to back down. Sources close to the situation say, if anything, his position has hardened. "We are not going to be intimidated," said one source, expressing Tribune's view. "I don't think they know well...

A rift on the board of Tribune Co. is setting the stage for a possible showdown between executives at the media company and its second-largest shareholder, the Chandler family trusts. In a securities filing yesterday, Tribune disclosed that all three directors appointed by the Chandler Trusts to the company's 11-member board had voted against the company's sweeping buyback program. That plan, announced last week, entails taking on about $2 billion of new debt to buy back up to 25% of the company's outstanding shares. By laying bare the board disagreement, the unusual filing raises new questions about the challenges facing...

LOS ANGELES - Otis Chandler, who transformed his family's Los Angeles Times from a provincial, conservative paper into a respected national media voice, died Monday. He was 78. Chandler died at his home in Ojai, said Tom Johnson, who had succeeded Chandler as publisher. He said Chandler had been suffering from a neurological disorder known as Lewy body disease. Chandler was the scion of a family that wielded financial and political power in the Los Angeles area for decades. With his blond hair, weightlifter physique and love of surfing, he was a quintessential Californian of his generation. As a publisher,...

FORGY AIDS BUFORD FOE IN RACE FOR CONGRESS By Al Cross The Campaign Trail is an update on this year's elections. Larry Forgy, the three-time Republican candidate for governor, resurfaced last week as campaign co-chairman for Lexington lawyer Bryan Coffman, one of three candidates in the GOP primary for Congress in the 6th District. Forgy said in an interview that he is supporting Coffman because he is more conservative than the best-known Republican candidate, state Sen. Tom Buford of Nicholasville. He said another reason is that Buford collected money for Democratic Rep. Ben Chandler in the February special election in...

Kerr lost battle on her own turf By Ryan Alessi HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU In her 12-point loss in last week's special congressional election, Republican Alice Forgy Kerr was failed by some of the voters who knew her best. Kerr, a state senator from Lexington, lost to Democrat Ben Chandler by an unexpectedly wide 55 percent to 43 percent margin in Tuesday's election to fill the 6th Congressional district seat. Political analysts have offered a host of theories why Chandler, a former attorney general, won so convincingly, including the high, 35 percent, voter turnout, which by tradition favors Democrats, and his...

Democrat Ben Chandler, who lost the election for governor in November, defeated Republican Alice Forgy Kerr Tuesday for the 6th District Congressional seat given up by Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Mark Gailey, a Libertarian from Berea, also was on the ballot. With 72% of the vote counted, Chandler held a 55%-43% margin over Kerr. Chandler, a former two-term state attorney general, presented himself as a fiscal conservative - a seemingly sound strategy in a district that registers mostly Democratic but tends to vote Republican. He enjoyed an advantage in name recognition because of his previous state offices held and because his...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Democrat Ben Chandler leads Republican Alice Forgy Kerr in their race to represent the 6th Congressional District, according to a newspaper poll. In the Bluegrass Poll, published Thursday by The Courier-Journal, 49.4 percent said they supported Chandler compared with 39.6 percent for Kerr and 11 percent undecided. The poll, which surveyed 466 self-described likely voters, has an error margin of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. Thus, Chandler holds a slight lead when accounting for the error margin. The vacancy was created in December when Republican Ernie Fletcher took office as Kentucky governor. The race has drawn...