Screwy situation: On Dec. 29, the Lewiston Sun Journal ran a story from the Bangor Daily News that contained this seemingly contradictory description of court testimony in an arson trial:

“Crabtree last week admitted to having sex with MacIntyre but denied having a physical relationship with her.”

Thirty minutes a week is not enough: The Maine Public Broadcasting Network isn’t shy about tooting its own horn. In the Dec. 28 Bangor Daily News, Helen Sloane Dudman, an MPBN trustee emeritus, has an op-ed extolling the “overall superiority” of its offerings.

No more free lunch: It now appears that the impending announcement from MaineToday Media, tentatively scheduled for Friday, Dec. 23, will be less sweeping than rumored.

Black Friday: It appears that some significant changes are coming to MaineToday Media – owner of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel – on Dec. 23. But it may be a few days after that before we find out what they are.

Not quite right: The Maine Heritage Policy Center, the Portland-based conservative think tank, put its new news site, the Maine Wire, online on Dec. 13. The debut offerings were short on scoops and long on ideology, with a distinct right-wing slant to most of the postings.

Boiling over and melting down: This past weekend, Bangor Daily News State House reporter Eric Russell got into a social-media mudslinging contest with Maine Heritage Policy Center executive director Lance Dutson. The original messages on Twitter and Facebook have since been deleted, but according to emails Dutson supplied, Russell reacted to Dutson’s complaint about how he was quoted in a story by using an off-color insult.

The Bangor Daily News is reporting that the Larry Grard case against MaineToday Media has been settled. No terms of the deal were announced. The BDN was unable to reach Grard’s lawyer, and the attorney for MTM refused comment.

Since MaineToday Media was formed in 2009 as the new owner of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, it has repeatedly failed to disclose in news stories that Robert C.S. Monks is an MTM board member and investor. It has also failed to note Monks’ roles in articles about controversies involving companies he owns or has a significant interest in.

Delivery blip: Copies of the Portland Press Herald were unavailable in most of the state on Dec. 1 and 2. So far, there’s been no official explanation for the absence of the paper outside greater Portland. Calls to the Press Herald’s circulation department and to Hudson Rpm Distributors of Gorham, the company that handles statewide delivery for the paper, were not returned.

Like father, don’t like son: The Bangor Daily News made a serious error of judgment when it assigned State House reporter Eric Russell to do a story on the controversy at the Maine State Housing Authority. As noted at the end of Russell’s Nov. 30 article, his father works at the agency.