Magazines

Food is covered in all kinds of magazines these days, including lifestyle publications such as Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle and Sunset and personality-driven magazines like those run by first-name-only icons such as Paula, Sandra and Rachel. Then there is Martha, whose magazine is both. But there is a hard core of dedicated food magazines still devoted to food, each in its particular (not to say, necessarily, peculiar) way. Because food is not the prime motivator for either lifestyle or personality magazines (in the first case, it's just part of the mix; in the second, it's as much celebrity as pure content that drives the operation)

Nancie Clare was named editor of LA, the Los Angeles Times Media Group's monthly Sunday magazine, in the latest in a series of management changes. Effective immediately, Clare replaces Annie Gilbar, who shepherded the magazine's relaunch in September 2008, the group said Monday. After serving as editor in chief for the last year, Gilbar is leaving the company. Clare also participated in the relaunch and was promoted to executive editor in January after serving as deputy editor.

With the presidential primaries, the Occupy movement, continued unrest in the Middle East and the Kim Kardashian wedding disaster, it's not as if there was a shortage of news in the second half of 2011. But you wouldn't know it looking at newsstand sales for the nation's magazines. Single-copy sales of consumer magazines took a major hit in the second half of last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Publishers sold 28.9 million newsstand copies, 10% less than the number sold over the same period in 2010.

A University of Central Florida student who was plotting an apparent massacre at his dorm managed to amass guns, explosives and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, with his roommates oblivious to his plans, police said Tuesday. James Oliver Seevakumaran's body was found in his dorm room early Monday morning with a .45-caliber handgun and a .22-caliber tactical rifle that had a 110-round drum magazine attached to it, police said. He also had a checklist of plotted actions leading up to a massacre that he never completed, police said.

Two years ago, Conde Nast's Vogue published its biggest issue, an advertising-packed behemoth that symbolized the prosperity of New York's glittering magazine industry as it rode the twin booms in the economy and luxury spending to dramatic heights. Generous expense accounts were de rigueur at glossy fashion and lifestyle magazines. Some top editors and publishers enjoyed clothing allowances and mortgage assistance. Even lowly assistants flitted about in chauffeur-driven town cars.

Time Warner Inc. has sold the Progressive Farmer magazine to publisher DTN for an undisclosed amount as part of a plan to shed smaller Time Inc. publications. The Progressive Farmer, formed in 1886, is targeted toward rural readers and has more than 600,000 subscribers, the Omaha-based DTN said in a statement. Time Warner, the world's biggest media company, decided to sell after receiving an offer from DTN, Time Inc. spokeswoman Dawn Bridges said in an interview.

A woman pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of spraying a glue-like substance on dozens of adult magazines at a downtown newsstand. Sandra L. Goodman, 28, of Northampton, was arrested Monday at the Amherst Newsroom, a newsstand and stationery store. She was charged with malicious destruction of property valued at more than $250, police said.

Charles Laufer, who built a publishing career with youth-oriented fan magazines such as Tiger Beat, has died. He was 87. Laufer died April 5 of natural causes at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, said his daughter, Teena Naumann. A journalism graduate from USC, Laufer was teaching at Excelsior High School in Norwalk in the 1950s when he came up with the idea for a magazine called Coaster aimed at students. "The kids were always bored" on rainy days, said his son, Scott.

Cargo magazine, a shopping guide for men that was launched by Conde Nast Publications Inc. with much fanfare two years ago, is shutting down with its May issue, the publisher announced. Cargo, which was unveiled on newsstands in March 2004 and marked the biggest launch ever for a men's magazine based on the number of ad pages, hoped to realize the success enjoyed by Conde Nast's women's fashion counterpart, Lucky magazine, and the latest, Domino, a guide for the home.