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• NATHAN MITCHELL/EL INDEPENDIENTE
• Ashley Bruno plays a signing bowl as Bill Duran watches at Riverpark Inn

Another one of the University of Arizona’s School of Journalism Student Media classes produces South Tucson’s bilingual monthly newspaper El Independiente. The first issue just came out, and you may pick up a copy from news stands around the city. You can find a stand nearest you here.

Story by Nathan Mitchell/El Independiente

Shoppers and spectators are welcomed into hotels and tent cities to see the natural wonders of the world. Objects for sale can be extravagant: a crystal chunk of purple and clear Kunzite for $34,000; a nest of 25 red and gray fossilized eggs set in a lit case with a note that reads “DO NOT TOUCH DINOSAUR NEST, $37,500.” But for the more frugal shoppers, there are beads, singing bowls, moon rocks and even a $25 stone tissue box.

Walking the halls of the hotels-turned-strip-malls is something like spinning a globe. At Hotel Tucson signs posted on the doors read: Austria, Russia, Tucson, Morocco, Peru, Tunisia, France, China and Czech Republic. The doors are open, and the beds are removed. Vendors invite shoppers in using sparse English to take a look at the products set up in cases and on folding tables they cart around the world. Visitors in the ballroom can walk among the towering skeletons of an Albertosaurus and Giant Ground Sloth casted from the bones of the ancient creatures. Raw materials used to make beads and jewelry sit beside stone jewelry set in gold, silver and wire. Price tags mark the material, $25 for a kilo of quartz and $2 for stromatolite.

Read more on El Independiente’s Web site.

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Could the owner of the Explorer really be the East Valley Tribune’s savior?

Ray Stern of the Phoenix New Times has some thoughts.

My thought? Randy Miller, the Explorer’s main owner dude, may indeed save the Trib in some form, but it’s worth noting that when he arrived in metro Tucson, the Explorer had somewhere in the area of 9 to 11 people in the newsroom. (The exact number escapes me at this moment.) There are now three or four in the newsroom.

Explorer editor Dave Perry’s done a great job with what he has … but he doesn’t have much.

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The morning daily proclaims in a hard-hitting editorial, “Facebook Group is shortsighted, destructive”:

We’re distressed and baffled by a destructive Facebook group that is opposing the planned 7,000-square-foot restaurant and bar at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and East Congress Street, across from the Rialto Theatre block.

Former state lawmaker Tom Prezelski’s response on Facebook:

After years of slanted reporting about Downtown, the Star comes out with an editorial characterizing criticism of redevelopment as destructive.

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Rumors are starting to bubble up regarding the list of people who agreed to take the Arizona Daily Star’s buyout offer—and the biggest name on that list so far is Opinion page editor Ann Brown.

Those taking the buyout will celebrate their last day of employment at the Star tomorrow, Nov. 6

John Schuster and I are trying to confirm this rumor—and that’s all it is at this point—as well as confirm other names.

Got any info? Let us know?

UPDATE (9:30 p.m. 11/5): Thanks for the comments and tips, everyone

Names we’ve heard from sources and the rumor mill (please let us know if anyone sees any errors):

Mary Cooney
Margo Hernandez
Nick Pintozzi
Mark Stewart
Enric Volante
Bill Betterton
Ann Brown
Jim Davis
Rutha Brundidge

Also, we’ve heard from several sources that folks at the Star are concerned about the possibility of layoffs—something which publisher John Humenik would happen if not enough employees took the buyout. Those layoffs could come as soon as tomorrow, if they are to happen.

What’s behind these layoffs? Well, one need only to look at the Star to know ad counts remain down. Also, some Southern Arizona newspapers as of late (including some of the Weekly’s sister papers in Wick Communications) have taken a financial hit after losing some grocery-store inserts to a direct-mail outfit. That could be a culprit in all of this.

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It seems like we’re playing a game of Survivor: Arizona Newspaper edition. Today the East Valley Tribune, which won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting earlier this year, announced it will be closing its doors by the end of the year. From the Tribune’s Web site:

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The Onion reports:

According to a report published this week in American Journalism Review, 93 percent of all newspaper sales can now be attributed to kidnappers seeking to prove the day’s date in filmed ransom demands.

“Although the vast majority of Americans now get their news from the Internet or television, a small but loyal criminal element still purchases newspapers at a steady rate,” study author and Columbia journalism professor Linus Ridell said. “The sober authority of the printed word continues to hold value for those attempting to extort large sums of money from wealthy people who wish to see their loved ones alive again, and not chopped into pieces and left in steamer trunks on their doorsteps.”

“These are sick, sick individuals,” Ridell added. “God bless them for saving our industry.”

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