Lives Of Local TV Reporters More Dramatic Than ‘Gossip Girl’

Do you think Dan Gross has a corkboard with all the “stars” of Philadelphia media’s faces on it? You know where I’m going here: He can now cross off another one, because Lori Delgado has quit NBC 10. Who’s Lori Delgado, you’re saying? She did mornings, sometimes filled in on 10!, got sued by Vince DeMentri, etc. Yes, it’s like Dan Gross is shooting them down one-by-one. Alycia? Ping. Larry? Sorry, buddy. Ping.

DeMentri, a former fake ATF agent, filed a precursor to a lawsuit recently against NBC 10, Delgado and “a male security guard identified only as ‘Don.’” Wow, you can just sue “some guy named Don,” huh? Man, if somebody ever tried to sue Fred from Comcast Sportsnet, heads would roll.

The Inquirer’s Michael Klein explains the backstory:

NBC had been investigating alleged incidents at the station. In one, Delgado’s personal property (a hair dryer, curling iron and handbag) was moved from her desk drawer to another spot under her desk. In another, a deep scratch was found on her Lexus, parked in the NBC10 lot in Bala Cynwyd. DeMentri, 44, had been questioned by NBC management. He was fired in August.

I’ve always thought WPVI’s policy of not letting its reporters talk to the media was stupid; it treated its employees like they were high schoolers. As we can tell from recent events over the past year, though, the local news business is pretty much just like high school. Maybe it’s a wise policy.

Lori Delgado resigns from NBC 10 [The Insider]
DeMentri sues NBC 10, Delgado, for libel and slander [Phillygossip]

Masons DO Rule The World

There’s so much in the Alycia Lane lawsuit against Larry Mendte, KYW and Dan Gross to parse just this instant, but deep in the Inquirer’s story is the best part, by far. Emphasis mine:

The lawsuit also describes the aftermath of Lane’s arrest Dec. 17. With Lane in lockup and her cell phone in a taxi, her boyfriend, Booker, was frantically calling people.

Disputing a story reported last December, the suit says that Booker - not Lane - called Gov. Rendell to seek the name of a New York attorney. The suit says Booker knew that Rendell was a former district attorney, a native New Yorker - and like Booker - a Mason. Booker left a message with Rendell, the suit says. In the interim, Booker secured a lawyer.

Man, what a club. Ed Rendell and Chris Booker? It’s the kind of thing that makes a guy want to join the Knights of Columbus.

Lane suit details Mendte gossip [Inquirer]
KYW, Mendte, DN sued by Alycia Lane [Daily News]

Dan Gross: Of Porn Shock and Jonas Brothers

The God of news has smiled greatly upon me during the days in which I guest edit this blog. Yesterday, the Metro made my life easy by running an abstract drawing of an elderly woman telling us about sex. Today, Dan Gross’ column contains this headline:

Main Liners get a porn shock

It pertains to Main Line Today telling its readers that a porn website was a great place to get table settings. What a scoop!

Buried three items in (and underneath the one about Ukee Washington taking an afternoon nap) Gross mentions that the Jonas Brothers–three unfortunate-yet-undeniable big stars–will be in town. Philadelphia only gets like four celebrities a year, and Gross is more concerned with “porn shock,” which sounds like a horrible, horrible disease.

Dan Gross: Main Liners get a porn shock [Daily News]

Dan Gross: First Amendment Defender

The Daily News writes about the case against Larry Mendte today, and does address the paper’s own mentions in the court documents.

(Fox 29, also, mentioned last night that Dawn Stensland is Mendte’s wife; it wasn’t really anything special, but it was kind of sad to hear Kerri-Lee Halkett be forced to say “fair and balanced.”)

Mendte, incidentally, will plead guilty, according to his lawyer.

The Daily News story has some great lines, such as: “And that was just as Lane, dubbed ‘anchorbabe’ and the ‘Latina bombshell,’ had suspected.” And here we go, straight out of a film noir movie:

Then, he allegedly dispensed intimate details to the Daily News of Lane’s late-night confrontation with undercover New York police, in which she allegedly called a policewoman a slur, as well as confidential attorney-client communications about her lawsuits. These details then appeared on PhillyGossip.com, a blog written by Dan Gross [in the photo, with an indestructible cheerleader], and later in the Daily News.

Asked if Mendte supplied information about Lane, Gross said, “I don’t discuss whether anyone is, or is not, a source of mine.” Asked if he cooperated in the FBI investigation, Gross said, “Absolutely not. I have never been contacted by any investigator in the case.”

Ha ha, Dan Gross is going to shut anyone down! He’s ready to go to jail to protect his known source, Larry Mendte! (Unless Mendte leaked to Regina Medina or Damon C. Williams.)

The feds also found the famed Alycia Lane bikini pix on Mendte’s computer, but didn’t say if he was Page 6’s source. If he was, Larry: Shame on you. For the first time since this scandal started I am actually mad. One, he could have released them to the public. And two, he could have at least given them to a news source in Philadelphia instead of the New York Post. We can take lawbreakers, Larry; we don’t tolerate Benedict Arnolds.

Mendte faces a felony count [Daily News]
Photo via South Philly Review

Breaking: People Fail At Having Sex

Dan Gross delivers:

Two Inqwaster editors, apparently heading for a quickie, were red-faced recently after they stumbled upon other employees working in an office they thought would be empty. The secret lovers played it cool, but our spies have no doubt they were looking for a place to get it on.

It’s pretty awesome this story is coming from the Inquirer and not The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Who could it be now? [Daily News, 4th item]

Alycia Lane On Path To Sainthood

Oh, yea, so Alycia Lane? Remember her? No? Well, she was the center of attention on this website back just two months ago. But since I’ve now moved on to more interesting stories involving demons, I don’t really even remember what she did anymore.

Oh, yeah, the former CBS 3 anchor allegedly punched a cop while sending bikini photos to a married man while calling somebody a “fucking dyke” on Dr. Phil. Anyway, she has a court date today in New York, and Dan Gross is up in New York covering it.

And, ta da, he reports Lane served her one day of community service already and is free to go. She just has to stay clean for six months or whatever.

The final chapter closes on Alycia Lane, and now we can just only hope Jennaphr Frederick punches a fireman or something so we have another local anchor to talk about.

Alycia gets her day in court [Philly Gossip]

Dan Gross: Stop Snitchin’

The Daily News‘ Dan Gross is today subjected to a polygraph test for his possible role in the death of Heath Ledger by the host of that new game show, Moment of Truth, you keep seeing promos for but have absolutely no intention of watching.

But, uh, is the entire show this disappointing? Gross’ wife is the best lover he’s ever had, there are no parts of her body he finds disgusting, etc. But, hey, Gross is no NARC; he wouldn’t report a family member to the police who sold drugs. (Who would?) But if Dan Gross has information on a murder? Oh, he wouldn’t tell the cops either. Sounds like someone’s doing penance for sending Beanie Sigel to a halfway house.

Here we face the Moment of Truth [Phillygossip]

Internet Drama Report For 1/16

As you may know, the Internet was slowed to a crawl yesterday due to geeks hitting F5 to reload their browsers to hear about the new MacBook they will then complain is too expensive. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t big Internet news going on!

First off, Sweeney entertainingly tells us the Salt messageboard has been taken over by ultimate fighters. If that previous sentence doesn’t make much sense to you, it’s okay.

As of this morning, we’ve heard from several longtime posters: One who has definitively quit, and others who are just wondering where their old board went. But maybe poster Somo said it best; when asked for a quote, he sighed heavily, thought on it for a moment, and said, “I just hope everyone can be cool, man.”

If that isn’t enough, the Fox 29 American Idol chatroom was invaded by IRC bots last night and all hell broke loose. If that sentence doesn’t make any sense to you, just go to after the jump, where Internet drama leaks into the real world!

More »

Columnist Sends Beanie To Halfway House

I have done a lot of things on this blog to piss people off, but I am pretty sure I never got anyone in trouble with the law. Apparently, Dan Gross sent Beanie Sigel to a halfway house. Geeze, Dan. Steve Volk didn’t do anything like that.

Dan Gross says oops on his blog and not much else. He reported Beanie was at the Tropicana — the Trop? Really? Beanie! — and that was a violation of his parole. He has to stay at a halfway house for the next sixth months. Let’s hope Gross has a basket of fruit ready for Beanie.

Big Alycia Lane News! Well…

Dan Gross reports today that PhillyGossip.com exclusively reported in December on Alycia Lane’s arrest! Oh, and also, today is the last day (sans weekend) of Alycia Lane’s three-week vacation after allegedly punching a cop and calling her a “fucking dyke.”

So, the DN gossip guru asks, Will CBS 3 announce Alycia Lane’s fate today? CBS 3 says there is no new news to report, and, hell, even I was too lazy to do a new Photoshop of Lane, which we know is the real harbinger of “no news.” (The bigger tits galore version is here, pervs.) But maybe Lane will get fired today in the best Friday news dump of all time.

More interestingly, a source tells Gross Lane has approached a high-powered Center City law firm about a wrongful termination suit, if she is indeed fired for her alleged transgression. She denies any cop punching or dyke-calling, so I guess we’ll all just have to wait this one out and be content to write about her for increased pageviews.