Business & Industry

(cross-posted at DKos)

As I mentioned on Sunday, Charlotte's Fox station, WCCB, may be up for sale. Its longtime owner, Cy Bahakel, wasn't interested (at least in public) in selling to anyone, but his kids have given it some serious thought. Although nothing has formally happened yet, should WCCB go on the block, a very likely suitor will be our good friends at Sinclair Broadcast Group. As we all know, Sinclair would be the absolute worst pick as an owner--not in the least because it's been flouting FCC ownership rules for more than a decade by way of a shell corporation, Cunningham Broadcasting. Although Cunningham holds itself out as separate, nearly all of its stock is controlled by the Smith family, owners of Sinclair.

(cross-posted at DKos)

Just before this past Christmas, I wrote that Sinclair Broadcast Group has illegal duopolies in six markets. It has LMAs with all six stations owned by Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation. However, Cunningham is effectively owned by Sinclair since nearly all of its stock is controlled by the Smith family, founders and owners of Sinclair.

This recently piqued my interest again because Charlotte's Fox affiliate, WCCB, may be up for sale. Its longtime owner, Cy Bahakel, died in April, and his kids have made noises about putting WCCB and their family's other on the market. If that happened, it would really surprise me if Sinclair didn't make a bid. It already owns stations in the Triangle and Triad. But based on Sinclair's illegal activity, we have to head this one off at the pass.

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like you're playing a hopeless game of Whack-a-Mole? As soon as you've you've bopped one bad actor, five more pop up thumbing their noses at common decency so they can have more profits. It's happening on every front. Choice. Vouchers. Pledges. Electioneering. Insurance scams. Ethics. Optometrists. Off-shore drilling. Mountain air. Ozone. Stormwater management. Climate change. Mercury. You name it, whack, whack, whack.

One organization slamming it's fair share of moles is the Southern Environmental Law Center. Their newsletter today has some very good news.

(Cross-posted at the new Appalachian Voices blog)

Don't always agree with Governor Easley. Not always impressed with him. But he has been kicking ass on the environment, first with his opposition to the sale of the National Forests. Now this.

There is an offshore drilling moratorium for the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts that isn't set to expire until 2012. However, there are some special interests in Virginia that want to see that overturned much sooner. Like...now.