After a local jury found SF Weekly guilty of illegal predatory pricing and awarded the local alt weekly a cool $6.39 million (the verdict subject to "treble damages," which bring the total award to $15.6 million), SFBG Executive Editor Tim Redmond tells the harrowing tale of the five-week trial in his own words: But the verdict sends a clear signal to small businesses, independent newspapers and the alternative press that a locally owned publication......

With regard to the SFBG vs. SF Weekly (VVM) lawsuit -- you know, the one where the Guardian sued the Weekly and its parent company for predatory pricing practices? where the Guardian's Publisher, Bruce Brugmann, claimed that the competition was so unreasonable that it could force the Guardian out of business? -- our sources confirm that: Word just came that Guardian won the lawsuit and were awarded 6.3 million [the Gate is claiming $15M]......

Oh my. According to the Snitch: Two executives of Village Voice Media, the parent company of the SF Weekly, were arrested in Arizona last night in connection with a story they wrote for Phoenix New Times this week. According to the Arizona Republic, Jim Larkin and Mike Lacey were charged with revealing secret grand jury information, a misdemeanor. Larkin (VVM CEO) and Lacey (VVM executive editor) got nabbed due to an article that they......

This week's Big Movie: Ocean's Thirteen! It’s a real surprise how divided the critics are about this one! Sure it’s franchising, sure it’s full of top shelf men in designer clothes and high-end accoutrement, but we thought it was all kicks and giggles. Groucho Reviews's Peter Cavanese however, says, “the plot of Thirteen is old, old news.” Many, like Roger Ebert, expressed their exhaustion with this trope -- Scott Floundas of the Village Voice......

--Ha! The guy to your right ran for mayor of Barcelona, and doesn't he look like Matt Gonzalez? By copatbark from the SFist Flickr stream. --John Edwards was in town at Google. So was Hillary Clinton. --Yau-Man's back at work and gives the lowdown on the Survivor season to the UC Berkeley web newsletter. --Oh no, Ed Jew! Bevan Dufty's not living in his district right now either! (it's all okay, though, at least for......

A local alt-weekly is reembracing the "alt" part of the genre, as a group of writers and editors at the East Bay Express buy the paper out from the Village Voice Weekly conglomerate. The team of purchasers includes the current editor, Stephen Buel; co-founder and calendar editor Kelly Vance (the EBX really does have a kick-ass calendar section); and Hal Brody, another person active in the alt-weekly scene. It all seems very amicable, and no......

Last Week's Winner: SF Weekly Nothing's good enough for the SF Weekly this week: Cutting Ball Theatre's Woyzeck doesn't cut it for Chloe Veltman; Frances Reade compares Kemble Scott's hot-selling novel SoMa to Showgirls (not meant as a compliment); in an article compelling for its title, alone, Flaccid Nostalgia, Music Editor, Jennifer Maerz lays into the Mother Hips with the "you asked for it" gambit, "They want me to write about this band - I......

SFist Rita is on vacation, so we're guest-reading the weeklies for her this week. Plus, it's the last weekly week of 2006, so we will be tallying up this year's picks to anoint a Weekly of the Year at the end of this post. Last week's winner and in at 4th place for 2006 with 6.5 WotW points, the Metro: Gary Singh on Rudy Rucker's new book Mathematicians in Love. Cover: Year in Review for......

No winner last week, so we're going in random order. First up: the SJ Metro. Gary Singh had a crazy South Bay weekend. Is Palo Alto really as crime-ridden as they say? Cover article: The South Bay Best Of. Wow, this font is hard to read. It's broken down by city, with a readers' choice section. We didn't win their Best Blog award, which is only fair since we almost never talk about the South......

Local bookstore chain, Cody's Books has just announced that it is selling itself to a Japanese chain. Current owner, Andy Ross, will stay on as President of Cody's. Meanwhile, the former flagship Cody's store on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley that closed recently, prompting much hand-wringing, 60s nostalgia, and debate amongst armchair urban planners is now one of those temporary Halloween superstores. We are holding our breath for the ironic next phase of vacant large storefronts......

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. The theme of the Local News section is "Editor's note: Alix Rosenthal [District 8 candidate] is the domestic partner of Guardian city editor Steven T. Jones. Jones did not participate in the assigning, writing, or editing of this story," as the Guardian weighs in on both the Castro Halloween fight and an update on the Pendulum. Also, Chris Daly can't get any documents under the sunshine laws either. Why......

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian: Mocking Dede Wilsey and Newsom about the DeYoung parking situation. The Guardian gets distracted from its single-minded focus on Village Voice LLC to decry MediaNews's purchase of the San Jose Merc News. Letter from a Peoples Temple survivor asking for further investigations into a CIA conspiracy. Hipsters worry that they're accidentally causing gentrification in Oakland. Sonic Reducer reviews an album of songs sung by actors. You know, we may have to download the version of Ewan McGregor singing Sade (or Jennifer Garner singing a show tune. It's totally awesome to work out to!!!!!.) A review of the Flipper reunion show from April 8. It took them a month to get that up? New brunch place in Noe Valley, Shanghai soup dumplings in the Sunset. Cover: Daniel Clowes. And SFist Eve's horoscope: be more confrontational. Watch out, crazy commenters! The SF Weekly: Nate Cavallieri, ex-Weekly writer, won a journalism award for his cover article about a guy who works with gang members. Congratulations, Nate! Matt Smith on Chris Daly, Mission Housing, and someone saying that Daly speaks with a "forked tongue" -- outraged Matt Smith spittle flying everywhere! N.B.: Matt Smith reports that Chris Daly has adopted a policy of "not speaking to me." Gay cop sues. Orphan pigeon rescue. Cover article: why won't the SF Unified School District back smaller schools? Meredith goes BBQ, while SFist Ced roasts some ribs of his own! And Savage Love: do any fetishists want to buy a letter-writer's breast milk? Direct all responses to Dan Savage, not us. The EBX's Best Of issue, and the Metro -- after the jump....

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express: Vote for SFist in the EBX Readers' Poll! We love the chicken holding a sword with its foot in this week's Dream Comic. A company that puts prank pink flamingos on people's lawns (called "Flamingo Surprise"). Cover article: The Coup, along with that picture of their album with the World Trade Center blowing up. Rob Harvilla tells us his departure for the Village Voice isn't us, it's him. Good luck out there on the cold East Coast, Rob! Have fun with Christgau! Lit section. Hyphy hyphy hyphy hyphy hyphy. And SFist Eve's horoscope: she's going to "find the passion to unite what at first glance seems like an unlikely gathering of associates." That's us over here at SFist! The SF Weekly: Vote for SFist in the SF Weekly Readers' Poll! The Apologist on the 1906 festivities, titled "Ready to Rumble." ("Honestly, I'm disgusted. This is a time to be celebrating earthquakes, not studying them." Ha!). Sucka Free City columnist (male) gives birth on Second Life. It's a girl! Cover article: Jewel thieves. Book section: The guilty pleasure of the Da Vinci Code. SFIFF. Meredith eats French! Good thing Ced's away, as we expect he was driven to heights of fury by the part where Meredith asks why a confit of rabbit isn't the same as a rabbit terrine. (We don't know the difference but we're sure our Gastronome does!). And Dan Savage infuriates bisexuals again. The Guardian and the Metro, after the jump, along with the Weekly of the Week....

Our secret boyfriend is breaking up with us! The Village Voice media juggernaut has just announced that our WRTW crush Rob Harvilla is taking over the New York flagship alt-paper's music editorship, replacing poor beleaguered Chuck Eddy at the helm. What will we do without the Cred Sheet or Down In Front? Who will we crush on in the alt-weekly music realm now? Todd Inoue of the SJ Metro, you're our only hope! Rubbing salt......

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express: Bottom Feeder asks a good question, which is: why did Sports Illustrated run an excerpt of the Barry Bonds book and not the Chron? He doesn't say, but we're going to guess money. In a separate story, the value of Bonds baseball cards has dropped. Hey, EBX, shouldn't you be focusing on your own baseball team instead of SF's? Cover article: E (aka, "thizz") stops being a raver......

Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro: Gary Singh does his best Travis Bickel to help out a friend getting blackmailed for her journal. Cover article: Blogs! Will they change politics? (no.) An experimental Canadian thriller, a documentary about Israel and Palestine: it's Cinequest time. Greek food in Santa Clara -- we were taken by the title, "Your Pal Is Athena." And BET Uncut -- the educational TV program! ("Once an acoustic guitar gets to......

Last week's two-peat winner, the Guardian: Angry, angry about the Village Voice's buyout of the New Times. Gavin Newsom -- in the pocket of the business community elites? Say it ain't so! Arlene Ackerman, bristling at public review? Say it ain't so! Annalee Newitz went to a Nick Denton party. Cover article: We're talkin' LO, LO, LO, L-O-V-E, LO, LO, LO. (Will Ashlee Simpson ever go away? That song's kinda catchy, though.) That teensy little restaurant on the corner of 18th and Mission, which is now Burmese food. Hey guys, when you roll over "cheap eats" on the homepage, it still says "Dan" Leone.) And hey, the sex columnist moved to the back! (the back of the weekly, that is.) The Metro: Radio radio. Something about a Neolithic goddess. Cover article: The science of pick-up artists. Jerk chicken. The Police tribute band Stung in Redwood City. Hyphy, the West Coast answer to crunk. The Asian Excellence Awards in Secret Asian Man. Hey, we totally had a good time watching those! C'mon, they were sponsored by XO! ...

When we lived on the East Coast, Amtrak was totally where it was at -- pick up an Au Bon Pain raspberry cheese croissant at Boston's South Station, emerge in Penn Station and pick up a Village Voice. So we're crushed to see that the California version of the Acela bullet train has run into some snags. Legislators are now balking at putting up a bond measure to fund the 220-mph SF-to-LA-in-2.5 hours rail program, saying they'd rather focus on transportation measures that could relieve vehicular congestion instead. Sure, it would take about $33 billion to build over a 10-20 year period (and we'd need to raise $1 billion in seed money now), but it would be so rad! We can't wait to get to these parties LAist is always talking about! Plus, if we don't get a high-speed rail, we'll just have to spend comparable amounts of money to expand highways and airports to accommodate intrastate travel anyways, right? And you know how we're getting the money to expand those highways? Bridge fare hikes. In 2007, all bridges are going up by another dollar. We saw some excellent interviews on the local news of stoically disgruntled commuters hearing the news. "Sure I'm unhappy, but -- well, how else you gonna get into the city?" one Emeryville driver grumbled, eyes squinting in repressed rage. ....So you spend all that money to get on the bridge in the first place, and then what? Yesterday afternoon, a truck heading into the city caught on fire. This morning, when you drove into SF over the weird new Fastrak lanes, you then promptly got stuck in traffic because Mission Street's closed down after a water main broke yesterday on Mission and Fremont. And if you were heading to City Hall, you got stuck in a bomb scare. (no, not at Starbucks this time, but the cops did shout "Fire in the hole!" before blowing it up, which is always cool.) ...

...late! Last week the Guardian left the Weekly in the dust -- and we left the Express out of it, much to the irritation of certain New Times employees. Let's see how this week shakes out, shall we? Hello, medical marijuana! SFist Jackson explained the pot supply chain to us at the Ha-Ra one Saturday afternoon, and though we like Ann Harrison just fine, we wish she'd tapped him for some (ahem) secondary research.......

In media news, looks like Google got caught with their Craigslist-killer pants down over the weekend when their new database system was accidentally revealed to the public. Their shiny, baggy, flowing pants. Tom Foremski talks to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster about all things classified ad. These are probably some of the things talked about a recent Scoble and Winer 'geek dinner' in Berkeley that Scott Beale snapped some pics of. But the buzz around......

Last week's winner, the East Bay Express: Hey, all you people who hated the anarchists we used to use to illustrate this column -- that picture is bona fide from this week's EBX! Take it up with the Bottom Feeder! (who's covering off-leash dog owners shenanigans in S. Berkeley). Dude, it's so easy to get a fake drivers' license from the DMV. Asians poisoning other Asian semiconductor workers in Fremont. Cover article: making energy from termites. Friday night, Taiwanese protest music. (he should protest for those Fremont semiconductor workers!) A Mexican place in downtown Oakland. And a guest music columnist on New Orleans. Next up, the Bay Guardian: Yo, people are throwing feces over the MUNI fare strike! SFist Jackson, you didn't say nothin' about that! Cover article: stories ignored by the mainstream media. Why is it always the sunshine laws in these "stories you didn't hear" articles? Also, the Guardian thinks no one is paying attention to the New Times-Village Voice merger. You know what would get that issue some more attention? More articles about it in the Guardian. Annalee Newitz sez they're monitoring our color printers! More on Fecal Face (no, not the MUNI fare striker). Local music (two more). And Sarah Han's comic From The Sidelines on getting comped for shows. That totally happens all the time! After the jump: The Weekly and the pick of the week. The Metro didn't get delivered to our usual pickup spot this week, sorry! ...

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian: People feel ambivalent about the proposed rider MUNI fare strike. Darn that Newsom, he's failed again to solve SF's housing problems. Special online editorial: Noooooooo!!!! The New Times might merge with the Village Voice media! Wow, this is long (and talks at great length about the Sherman Act). Cover article: Arts in the fall (many lists). Filipino indie rock fest piNoisePop this weekend! And an evening out at the ostentatiously-straight Club Freak. The East Bay Express: The Chron's preemptively bought out a bunch of anti-Chron domain names, including www.darthvega.com, sfchroniclesucks.com, and the sffreepress.com (which is the name striking writers used to publish a paper during the last Chron strike). Why do religions get tax breaks anyways? Cover: insider property dealing by the Republican representing Tracy, CA in Congress, and why this makes Tracy's traffic so bad. Asian indie rock band Bento at the Oakland Chinatown Street Fest. Reggae on the River and a new Filipina pop goddess. The Weekly and the pick of the week after the jump. ...