The Wet Mountain Tribune in December settled its slam-dunk federal lawsuit against the Custer County Board of Commissioner (BOCC) and will once again run the county’s public notices. The lawsuit claimed the BOCC violated the Tribune’s First Amendment rights by retaliating against it by awarding the county’s public notice contract to another local newspaper that is openly partisan.
In addition to making the Tribune the county’s official newspaper again for the next four years, Custer County also agreed to pay the Tribune $50,000. That’s about three times as much as the county spends annually on its notices, according to Tribune owner Jordan Hedberg’s (photo above) estimate.
N.C. Papers File Suit to Block Guilford County Law
Four newspaper companies publishing in Guilford County filed suit this afternoon alleging that a law passed last year by the General Assembly allowing the county to publish and sell public notices on its own website violates the North Carolina Constitution. The companies are asking the Superior Court of Wake County Superior Court to award money damages and issue a permanent injunction preventing the law from being enforced.