Speaking of hot news, the costliest local war is being waged in the pages of your daily newspapers by the giant grocery chains. This war features SMITTY'S against SMITH'S against ALBERTSON'S against BASHAS' and so on. If you're thinking of joining this battle, you should know that a full-page ad in the Sunday ARIZONA REPUBLIC will cost you only $16,924.80. If you can't afford that, the rate for full-page ads the rest of the week is only $14,615.70. . . .
So what if the SALT RIVER PROJECT is going to raise its electricity rates. The money's probably going to a good cause: speculative real estate. One anonymous wag is scared that SRP will fall into the same quagmire that engulfs ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE. So he's distributing copies of a newspaper article about PAPAGO PARK CENTER, SRP's planned 522-acre riverfront commercial development, with a note: "To all SRP ratepayers: You now have an opportunity, similarly enjoyed by APS ratepayers, of having your utility company participate in real estate. Yes, you too can feel the comfort of knowing that some part of your utility bill is going to help construction companies and material suppliers during these difficult times." We second that emotion. . . .
While ex-tycoon CHARLIE KEATING tries to wiggle his way out of legal difficulties, his brother BILL is about to become one of the most powerful newspaper emperors in the country. Bill is CEO of the DETROIT NEWSPAPER AGENCY, which hopes to run Detroit's giant daily papers, the NEWS and the FREE PRESS, in a joint operating monopoly. Bill Keating first got into the newspaper business in 1974, when he resigned from Congress to become president and publisher of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, which was owned by Ohio financier CARL LINDNER. A few years later, Lindner and Charlie Keating were accused of insider trading and eventually signed consent decrees with the SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. Charlie left for Phoenix in '79 and the same year, Lindner sold the Enquirer to GANNETT, which also publishes USA TODAY..Bill went to work for Gannett, which bought the Detroit News. Now, Bill is in line to run the giant newspaper monopoly in Detroit, if federal officials and judges okay the merger.
