National Roundup

New Hampshire
Newspaper publisher fined $620 over political advertisement omissions
DERRY, N.H. (AP) — A judge has fined the New Hampshire publisher of a weekly community newspaper $620 after finding her guilty of five misdemeanor charges that she ran advertisements for local races without properly marking them as political advertising.

The judge had acquitted Debra Paul, publisher of the Londonderry Times, of a sixth misdemeanor charge following a bench trial in November.

Paul initially faced a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine on each charge. But prosecutors did not ask for jail time. Instead, they requested a total fine of $3,720, plus 100 hours of community service. Paul’s lawyer asked for a $500 fine — $100 per each charge — and said she already performs a service and volunteers in the community. The judge issued his sentence late Wednesday.

Prosecutors said they warned her more than once that the ads didn’t have the required language. They said Paul disregarded the warnings.

Her lawyer, Anthony Naro, said Paul, who’s never even had a speeding ticket and earns about $40,000 a year at the newspaper, simply made a mistake and has corrected the practice. He also said she “has dedicated her entire professional life to the community,” and does volunteer work.

“She was not disregarding the law. She misunderstood it,” Naro said.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office charged Paul last year, saying she failed to identify the ads with appropriate language indicating that they were ads and saying who paid for them as required by state law.

The office said it had warned her in 2019 and 2021. Last year, it received more complaints and reviewed the February and March issues of the paper. Two political ads leading up to a local election in March did not contain the “paid for” language and a third had no “political advertisement” designation, according to a police affidavit.

Shortly after her arrest, the 64-year-old put out a statement saying, “This is clearly a case of a small business needing to defend itself against overreaching government.”

Naro said at her trial that Paul never meant to break the law and tried to follow the attorney general’s office instructions.

Members of the community came to support her in court and others wrote letters on her behalf, including several newspaper publishers.

“I fully believe Deb when she insists she has been trying to do the right thing,” wrote Brendan McQuaid, publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader, who has gotten to know Paul as a fellow member of the New Hampshire Press Association. He noted that many association members “were unaware of the strict language requirements dictated in the statute.”

State Rep. Kristine Perez of Londonderry, a Republican, spoke in court, saying she has been friends with Paul for years. She said she is sponsoring a bipartisan bill this legislative session that would remove the requirement from the law to use the “political advertising” notation in ads. She said she’s unsure that the current law “designates who has the responsibility for ads placed in the news outlets.”

Another supporter, Kevin Coyle, an attorney, said he was reminded of the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with a main character who doesn’t make a lot of money and serves his community.

“That's what Deb Paul is,” he said. “She could have worked in business and could have made a lot more money, but she chose her passion, which is reporting.”

Florida
Florida State sues ACC, setting stage for a fight to leave over revenue concerns
Florida State sued the Atlantic Coast Conference on Friday, challenging a contract that binds the school to the league for the next 12 years with more than $500 million in penalties for leaving and taking the first step in a lengthy and uncertain process toward a potential exit.

“I believe this board has been left no choice but to challenge the legitimacy of the ACC grant of rights and its severe withdrawal penalties,” Florida State Board of Trustees chairman Peter Collins said during a trustees meeting to approve the legal action.

The lawsuit was filed soon after in Leon County Circuit Court, claiming the ACC has mismanaged its media rights and is imposing “draconian” exit fees. Breaking the contract would cost Florida State more than half a billion dollars.

In a counter attack, the ACC filed a lawsuit in North Carolina against the Florida State Board of Trustees, claiming the school could not challenge the grant of rights that it had signed and that these issues should be decided in the state where the conference is located.

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and Virginia President Jim Ryan, chairman of the conference’s board of directors, said Florida State’s actions are “in direct conflict with their longstanding obligations and is a clear violation of their legal commitments to the other members of the conference.”

“All ACC members, including Florida State, willingly and knowingly re-signed the current Grant of Rights in 2016, which is wholly enforceable and binding through 2036,” their statement said. “Each university has benefited from this agreement, receiving millions of dollars in revenue and neither Florida State nor any other institution, has ever challenged its legitimacy.”

Florida State outside counsel David Ashburn said during the board meeting the ACC’s grant of rights violates antitrust law and has unenforceable withdrawal penalties. Ashburn said it would cost a school $572 million to withdraw from the conference. The lawsuit also accuses the ACC of breach of contract and violation of public policy.

Florida State is looking for a way out of the conference it has been a member of since 1992 because it believes the ACC is locked into an undervalued and unusually lengthy media rights deal with ESPN.
School leaders also say the league refuses to change its revenue distribution model to match FSU’s value.

“It is a simple math problem,” Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said. “A very clear math problem.”

Florida State leaders have been pushing for unequal distribution of revenue for more than a year. The ACC has agreed to create a bonus system that would direct more revenue to schools that have postseason success in football and basketball, but that has not solved the frustration at Florida State.

“It’s time for us to try to do something about it,” Florida State President Richard McCullough said.

McCullough said the trustees’ approval of the legal challenge was not a direct reaction to Florida State recently being left out of the College Football Playoff, despite having an undefeated record.

“This is not a reaction, but something we’ve done a lot of due diligence on,” he said.