Sacramento Bee Newspaper

A coalition of organized labor groups, acting at the request of the Northern California Newspaper Guild, on Thursday urged a subscription boycott of the Sacramento Bee newspaper to protest a breakdown in contract negotiations over merit wage increases. Following the example of other unions, the Guild is looking for ways to put pressure on management without calling a strike, according to Jerry Rocker, a unit administrative officer.

SACRAMENTO -- The state Assembly is expected to vote swiftly Monday to add $2 million to the secretary of state's budget to speed up the processing of business paperwork. The office relies on a system of paper and not computerized filings for corporate, partnership and other business records that an entrepreneur must submit before hiring workers, opening doors or selling products. The $2-million appropriation, which must be approved also by the state Senate, would allow Secretary of State Debra Bowen to increase the pace of her operations for the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The goal is get all documents processed within five days of being received in Sacramento.

The Sacramento Bee won the Pulitzer Prize gold medal for public service Tuesday for a series of 15 stories on environmental threats and damage to the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Bee reporter Deborah Blum also won a Pulitzer--in the beat reporting category--for "The Monkey Wars," stories examining the moral and ethical issues involved in primate research. The New York Times and Newsday joined the Bee in winning two Pulitzers each.

Melanie Sill, executive editor of the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., and part of a 1996 Pulitzer Prize-winning team there, was named editor of the Sacramento Bee. Sill replaces Rick Rodriguez, who led the Bee for nine years before resigning this month in a dispute over the long-term direction of the newspaper. She is to be succeeded at the Raleigh newspaper by Managing Editor John Drescher. The news was reported on the websites of both papers, which are among 31 U.S.

SACRAMENTO -- The state Assembly is expected to vote swiftly Monday to add $2 million to the secretary of state's budget to speed up the processing of business paperwork. The office relies on a system of paper and not computerized filings for corporate, partnership and other business records that an entrepreneur must submit before hiring workers, opening doors or selling products. The $2-million appropriation, which must be approved also by the state Senate, would allow Secretary of State Debra Bowen to increase the pace of her operations for the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The goal is get all documents processed within five days of being received in Sacramento.

Investigators from Cal/EPA searched the press room of the Sacramento Bee, apparently looking for evidence of illegally disposed hazardous wastes. The investigators used a search warrant to enter the building Monday. The newspaper uses ink, cleaning solvents and other chemicals to print its editions. A spokesman said the Bee complies with all federal, state and local regulations that cover the storage and disposal of hazardous substances used at its plant.

Sacramento Kings' center Ralph Sampson threatened to beat up a newspaper reporter, apparently over a column that called the former All-Star one of basketball's "great disappointments." Sampson interrupted an interview Sacramento Bee reporter R.E. Graswich was holding with Kings' player personnel director Jerry Reynolds before Tuesday's 114-105 loss to the Clippers. "If you ever write something about me without talking to me again, I'll punch you in the nose," the Bee quoted Sampson as saying.

The Sacramento Bee apologized Tuesday to readers who were offended by its use of a racial epithet in an editorial cartoon last week, but critics pressed for a boycott of the state capital's only daily newspaper. Nate White, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People's Sacramento chapter, urged the resignations of editorial cartoonist Dennis Renault and editorial page editor Peter Schrag, while a city councilman pushed for passage of a resolution denouncing the Bee.

The Sacramento Bee has fired one of its top political reporters after finding out that he invented sources and made up quotes while covering the presidential campaign. In an apology to readers published Wednesday, Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez said the paper fired Dennis Love, 46, on Tuesday--four days after an editor discovered that the veteran reporter had plagiarized material from a magazine.

A newspaper photographer who returned safely from such flash points as Panama, Haiti and Somalia was in serious condition Tuesday after being savagely beaten while taking pictures for a springtime feature here. John Trotter, 36, a photographer for the Sacramento Bee, had been photographing children frolicking in record high temperatures Monday when a group of eight to 12 men demanded his film and began beating him.

The Sacramento Bee's top editor resigned Thursday in a dispute over the long-term direction of the newspaper. Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez, 53, led the newspaper for nine years and was one of the highest-ranking Latino newspaper executives in the country. In a statement, Bee Publisher and President Janis Heaphy said the two had agreed to part ways and that their disagreement was not about the paper's staffing.

McClatchy Inc., owner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Sacramento Bee, received at least three bids for two Philadelphia newspapers that it plans to sell as part of its purchase of publisher Knight Ridder Inc. David Black, chief executive of Canada's Black Press Ltd., said he made an offer.

The Sacramento Bee announced Thursday the resignation of an award-winning columnist, the latest in a series of cases across the nation in which journalists had been forced from their jobs because of questions about the veracity of their reporting. In an explanation to readers, Bee Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez wrote that Diana Griego Erwin could not adequately answer questions that first arose last month about whether "people mentioned in several recent columns actually existed."

The Sacramento Bee has fired one of its top political reporters after finding out that he invented sources and made up quotes while covering the presidential campaign. In an apology to readers published Wednesday, Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez said the paper fired Dennis Love, 46, on Tuesday--four days after an editor discovered that the veteran reporter had plagiarized material from a magazine.

A newspaper photographer who returned safely from such flash points as Panama, Haiti and Somalia was in serious condition Tuesday after being savagely beaten while taking pictures for a springtime feature here. John Trotter, 36, a photographer for the Sacramento Bee, had been photographing children frolicking in record high temperatures Monday when a group of eight to 12 men demanded his film and began beating him.

The Sacramento Bee apologized Tuesday to readers who were offended by its use of a racial epithet in an editorial cartoon last week, but critics pressed for a boycott of the state capital's only daily newspaper. Nate White, president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People's Sacramento chapter, urged the resignations of editorial cartoonist Dennis Renault and editorial page editor Peter Schrag, while a city councilman pushed for passage of a resolution denouncing the Bee.

McClatchy Inc., owner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Sacramento Bee, received at least three bids for two Philadelphia newspapers that it plans to sell as part of its purchase of publisher Knight Ridder Inc. David Black, chief executive of Canada's Black Press Ltd., said he made an offer.

Melanie Sill, executive editor of the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., and part of a 1996 Pulitzer Prize-winning team there, was named editor of the Sacramento Bee. Sill replaces Rick Rodriguez, who led the Bee for nine years before resigning this month in a dispute over the long-term direction of the newspaper. She is to be succeeded at the Raleigh newspaper by Managing Editor John Drescher. The news was reported on the websites of both papers, which are among 31 U.S.

Investigators from Cal/EPA searched the press room of the Sacramento Bee, apparently looking for evidence of illegally disposed hazardous wastes. The investigators used a search warrant to enter the building Monday. The newspaper uses ink, cleaning solvents and other chemicals to print its editions. A spokesman said the Bee complies with all federal, state and local regulations that cover the storage and disposal of hazardous substances used at its plant.

The Sacramento Bee won the Pulitzer Prize gold medal for public service Tuesday for a series of 15 stories on environmental threats and damage to the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Bee reporter Deborah Blum also won a Pulitzer--in the beat reporting category--for "The Monkey Wars," stories examining the moral and ethical issues involved in primate research. The New York Times and Newsday joined the Bee in winning two Pulitzers each.