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LA City Beat Closes Down Shop

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One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

It's always sad to hear when a paper totally goes away. "It is with great regret that as of the March 26, 2009 issue, Southland Publishing, Inc. has decided to discontinue publishing the Los Angeles CityBeat alternative weekly publication," company President Bruce Bolkin wrote in a memo to staff and others about the closure. Citybeat started in 2003 and was a blast this summer when Alan Mittelstaedt got on the transportation and water efficiency beat. "Sources inside the paper expressed surprise at the decision. Under CityBeat publisher Will Swaim's direction the paper had recently gone from operating at a loss to breaking even," finds Tina Dupuy at FishbowlLA

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