Times-Picayune Weathering Staffers’ Turmoil
John McCusker, a photographer for New Orlean’s Times-Picayune was arrested last week after he begged cops to shoot him. E&P reports McCusker was despondent after realizing insurance payments would not be enough to rebuild his home after hurricane Katrina.
A couple of days after the incident, McCusker was being held for psychiatric evaluation and more than $9,000 had been raised on his behalf by Friends of the Times-Picayune, a philanthropic effort founded last year to benefit staffers who were victims of the massive storm.
In an unrelated incident, a 27-year-old Baton Rouge-based sportswriter for the paper was busted in a teen internet sex sting. William Kalec was arrested last Wednesday in Kenner, La. He faces a mandatory two years in prison if convicted.