There was no bailout on Capitol Hill but there was one here on my blog yesterday. Yes, I took the day off.
I almost made it two days in a row, but then it occurred to me that by not writing on Tuesday I'd already done enough favors this week for Wendy McCaw.
R.I.P. Coastal Woman Magazine. I was one of those people in town who woke up Tuesday morning, turned on my computer and found in my e-mail in-box a message from Barbara Lanz Mateo announcing that after a six-year run, Coastal Woman will no longer be published.As Barbara put it in her announcement: "[P]ublishing is a challenging business, even during good economic times. But these days, it's just about impossible, at least for us. If you are the owner of a small business, you know what I’m talking about. So now it’s time to say goodbye."
Barbara expanded on her reasons for closing down the magazine in an e-mail she sent me later in the day:
After I became a grandmother in August, I started rethinking my priorities. While I am not closing the business 'to spend more time with my family,' I have come to realize that after six years of doing for my employees, my business and the community, it is time for me to do for me and my family. It was the hardest decision I have ever made, but it was the best one, too.
Best of luck to Barbara.
Full disclosure: Coastal Woman was an advertiser on this blog.
Word about the dismissal of Wendy McCaw's libel suit against Susan Paterno is slowly starting to be reported around the web. Articles can now be found at LA Observed and the Orange County Weekly.
Will Fleet, who served briefly as the publisher of the News-Press in the early days of Wendy's ownership of the paper has been named publisher of the Fresno Bee.
Most recently he was the publisher of a paper in Florida.
I guess after surviving tropical storms in The Sunshine State and hurricane Wendy here in Santa Barbara, that San Joaquin Valley heat ought to be a piece of cake.
