Scandals
In other Lane/Mendte news, Fox 29 meteorologist John Bolaris, a good friend of Lane's, has been lobbying station management to hire her there. While it might be a nice ratings stunt to awkwardly pair her at the anchor desk with Stensland, we're told Lane's hire there is unlikely. A Fox 29 spokeswoman says the station has no news at this time. Meanwhile, Bolaris got a shout-out in an interoffice e-mail sent by Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser praising the station's team effort in covering the Mendte/Lane story on Friday. Apparently, Bolaris texted Lane, who got her attorney, Paul Rosen, to do a live hit with Schrat after his news conference.
Does CBS 3 have no choice but to fire Larry Mendte in order to defend itself against Alycia Lane's current wrongful-termination suit against the station? "If they don't get rid of Mendte somehow, they're going to have a problem," says local attorney J. Conor Corcoran, who does not represent Mendte or Lane.
Mendte is currently benched by the station pending further investigation by federal authorities as to whether he illegally hacked into Lane's private e-mails. He has not yet been charged with a crime. CBS 3 fired Lane in January during the fallout from her New York arrest on charges that she assaulted an NYPD officer. Even though the assault charge was later dropped, she was terminated by the station. She filed suit, by form of writ of summons, a less common method of initiating a lawsuit, in late January.
Corcoran says that CBS 3 would be shooting itself in the foot by not firing Mendte, as Lane's civil attorney, Paul Rosen, could point to a double standard as to why his client was fired and Mendte was not. Both anchors, like nearly everyone in local television, had a morals clause in their contracts. A CBS 3 spokeswoman had no comment yesterday other than to say that the station is cooperating with authorities and that Mendte will not be on the air pending investigation.
Lead anchor Larry Mendte is under investigation by the FBI over allegedly reading personal e-mails of his former colleague Alycia Lane without her permission., the Inquirer reported last night. This comes just five months after Lane was fired by the station after being arrested in New York and charged with hitting a female police officer for which she was later cleared and her case remains in a prolonged period of dismissal.
“On Thursday federal investigators approached Larry Mendte as a result of claims made by
Schwartz, of the Pepper Hamilton firm, was retained Thursday by Mendte. He knows both sides of this fence, having previously worked for 14 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in
Kidd Chris is hinting at a possible radio return on his website, which features an animated version of the former 94 WYSP host hung on a cross. Along with the cartoon is the definition of the word "resurrection" and the statement "Keep watching," signed by the jock who still has not spoken publicly about his May 16 firing from 'YSP. As we reported exclusively he was fired over repeated airings of a racist song, "Schwoogies," sung to the tune of Blondie's "Call Me," which his guest Lady Gash performed in studio in March.
