Alycia Lane

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Alycia Lane
Born May 10, 1972 (1972-05-10) (age 37)
Lake Grove, New York, U.S.
Occupation Television journalist
Title Newscaster
Spouse(s) Dino Calandriello (2000-2004)
Jay Adkins (2005-2007)
Ethnicity Puerto Rican, Welsh

Alycia Lane (born May 10, 1972) is an American television journalist. Until January 2008, she served as co-anchor of the weekday evening newscasts on KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of February 8, 2010, she is a weekday morning anchor at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles.

Contents

[edit] Background

Lane, a native of Lake Grove, New York, is of Puerto Rican descent on her mother's side and Welsh descent on her father's. She has a Master's Degree in Broadcast Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Albany where she graduated with honors. She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and speaks fluent Spanish.[1] Alycia Lane has been married twice. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend Chris Booker, an afternoon radio personality on KAMP-FM 97.1.[2]

[edit] Career

Lane's television career began while completing her Master's at Northwestern, serving as a Washington, D.C.-based reporter for KSNT in Topeka, Kansas.[1] After completing her studies, she returned to her native New York and joined Cablevision-owned News 12 the Bronx, where she served as an anchor and reporter.[1] Among the stories she covered there was the 1999 shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was shot to death by four New York City police officers.

In 2000, Lane moved to Miami, after being hired as a reporter for Fox affiliate WSVN. She joined a rival station, NBC-owned WTVJ a year later, and spent two years there before moving to Philadelphia and CBS-owned KYW-TV in September 2003.[1] KYW-TV paired her with Larry Mendte on their 11 o'clock newscast, and by early 2004 had experienced "an amazing 61%" rise in the show's ratings.[3] In 2005, she was awarded a local Emmy Award for her "Holiday Traditions" special.[1][4]

Lane moved to Los Angeles in July 2009 and was hired by NBC affiliate KNBC on August 18. She debuted on the air August 29 in the weekend evening anchor chair, replacing Kim Baldonado, who was promoted to KNBC's weekday 11 a.m. newscast and the investigative report show News Extra.[5] In February 2010, Lane became co-anchor of Today in LA on KNBC.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Bikini pictures

In May 2007, Lane became the center of a national media story when reports surfaced that she emailed pictures of herself and friends, depicting her in a bikini, to the NFL Network's Rich Eisen via an account that he shared with his wife, Suzy Shuster. Shuster's email response became public.[6][7] Lane insisted that the pictures were harmless[8] and that she and Eisen have been "purely platonic" friends "for almost 10 years", and that they "regularly exchange e-mail and photos".[9]

[edit] Assault charges

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Lane was arrested in the early morning hours of December 16, 2007 in New York City, accused of physically and verbally assaulting a female police officer, as well as weilding homophobic slurs.[10] Lane was charged with one felony count of assault on a police officer.[11][12][13] The criminal case was effectively closed on February 25, 2008, when a New York judge dropped the felony assault charges against her and reduced Lane's charges to misdemeanors. The case was then adjourned, with an additional provision that the charges against Lane would be dropped on the condition that she is not arrested, at any time, over the next six months. At that point, the initial charges will be null and void and her record will be ultimately cleared.[14]

[edit] Dismissal from KYW-TV and wrongful termination lawsuit

On January 7, 2008, KYW-TV announced that Lane had been released from her contract. In a statement, the station explained that the decision to terminate Lane, stating:

"After assessing the overall impact of a series of incidents resulting from judgments she has made...we have concluded that it would be impossible for Alycia to continue to report the news as she, herself, has become the focus of so many news stories."[15][16]

Lane's legal counsel, Paul Rosen, subsequently released a statement which countered the station's reasoning:

"The termination comes at a time when there has been absolutely no determination that Alycia is guilty of any wrongful conduct, and after KYW-TV has aired her categorical denial of the alleged charge that is pending against her. The termination is unfair because Alycia has never had an opportunity to defend against this charge, and tell her side of the story publicly, before KYW-TV has taken this unusual and unwarranted step to terminate her employment."[17]

On January 30, 2008, Lane's lawyers filed a writ of summons on her behalf, a preemptive move towards a lawsuit against KYW-TV in connection with her dismissal.[18][19] On February 19, 2008, lawyers for CBS, KYW-TV's parent company, sought to move Lane's state court writ to the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, though a provision in Lane's contract which stated that employment disputes were to be handled in New York, where the network is headquartered.[20]

On June 19, 2008, Lane filed suit against KYW-TV and station manager Michael Colleran alleging that she was exploited and defamed. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. A spokeswoman for KYW-TV had no comment on the pending litigation.[21]

[edit] Invasion of privacy with Larry Mendte

On May 31, 2008, it was reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer that KYW-TV anchor Larry Mendte was under investigation by the FBI for allegedly reading Lane's private e-mail, which if true would be a federal offense. The charges specify that he logged into her accounts 537 times in a four month period. The intrusions allegedly began in March 2006 and are estimated to be in thousands, seven to eight thousand log-ins in total, according to sources. Mendte is allegedly responsible for feeding her private information to gossip columnists over the years and violating attorney/client privilege in doing so during her New York legal problems and pending lawsuit against KYW.[22] Mendte was dismissed by the station on June 23, 2008.[23] On July 21, 2008, Mendte was charged with one felony count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization. Despite the hundreds or thousands of intrusions which actually took place, Mendte was charged with only one count, allegedly in exchange for an expected guilty plea on August 22, 2008.[24] He has also admitted to once having an "improper relationship" with Lane during his marriage to fellow Philadelphia TV personality Dawn Stensland.

Preceded by
Marc Howard		 CBS 3 6pm & 11pm Eyewitness news anchor
2003 – 2008 (with Larry Mendte)		 Succeeded by
Larry Mendte & Susan Barnett

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Alycia Lane Biography". Philly.com. http://web.archive.org/web/20071219083103/http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20071217_Alycia_Lane_bio.html. Retrieved 2008-03-11. 
  2. ^ Michael Klein (2009-08-18). "Alycia Lane gets job in L.A.". philly.com. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/the-insider/Alycia_Lane_gets_job_in_LA.html. Retrieved 2009-08-30. 
  3. ^ Steve McClellan (2004-05-04). "CBS Stations Soar in Sweeps: New talent, vision transform losers into winners". Broadcasting & Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA420381.html. Retrieved 2008-03-10. 
  4. ^ "2005 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award Winners". NatasMid-Atlantic.org. http://www.natasmid-atlantic.org/archives/2005.php. Retrieved 2008-03-11. 
  5. ^ Greg Braxton (2009-08-19). "Alycia Lane to join KNBC-TV". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-anchor19-2009aug19,0,3624141.story. Retrieved 2009-08-30. 
  6. ^ Richard Johnson. "Bikini-e-mails Rattle TV Wife". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/seven/05012007/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-02. 
  7. ^ Staff Report. "Report: Wife not amused by Alycia Lane's email come-on". Philadelphia Daily News. http://www.philly.com/philly/hot_topics/Report__Wife_not_amused_by_Alycia_Lane_s_email_come-on__.html. Retrieved 2007-05-02. 
  8. ^ Micahel Klein. "Alycia Lane defends "saucy" e-mails". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://web.archive.org/web/20070504042932/http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20070502_Bikini_breach.html. Retrieved 2007-05-02. 
  9. ^ TMZ Staff. "Bikini-Clad News Babe: Sexy Pix "Purely Platonic"". TMZ.com. http://www.tmz.com/2007/05/01/bikini-clad-news-babe-sexy-pix-purely-platonic/. Retrieved 2007-05-02. 
  10. ^ Criminal Court of the City of New York (2007-12-17). "NYC Police Complaint" (PDF). philly.com. http://media.philly.com/documents/lane_complaint_2.pdf. Retrieved 2007-12-18. 
  11. ^ Dan Gross (2007-12-16). "Alycia Lane Arrested in New York for allegedly assaulting an NYPD officer". Philly.com. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillygossip/Alycia_Lane_Arrested_in_New_York_for_allegedly_assaulting_an_NYPD_officer.html. Retrieved 2007-12-17. 
  12. ^ Dan Gross (2007-12-16). "Ugly new details on Alycia's arrest". Philly.com. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillygossip/12550876.html. Retrieved 2007-12-17. 
  13. ^ Associated Press (2007-12-17). "Anchorwoman Arrested". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/nyregion/17anchor.html?ref=nyregion. Retrieved 2007-12-17. 
  14. ^ Samuel Maull (2008-02-25). "Ex-Philly News Anchor's Charges Reduced". ap.google.com. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jEn8Pbipg_yg92ABCwF2AevckVpgD8V1JTPO0. Retrieved 2008-02-21. 
  15. ^ cbs3.com - CBS 3 Anchor Alycia Lane Released From Contract
  16. ^ YouTube - CBS 3 announses Alycia Lane termination
  17. ^ Paul Rosen (2008-01-08). "Spector Gadon & Rosen P.C. press release". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS201440+07-Jan-2008+PRN20080107. Retrieved 2008-01-08. 
  18. ^ Lane v. CBS Broadcasting, Inc.
  19. ^ Michael Klein (2008-01-30). "Alycia’s lawyer: We want facts". Philly.com. http://web.archive.org/web/20080201111016/http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/15021057.html. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  20. ^ Dan Gross (2008-02-20). "CBS makes federal case of Alycia". Philly.com. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/dan_gross/20080220_Dan_Gross__CBS_makes_federal_case_of_Alycia_a.html. Retrieved 2008-02-21. 
  21. ^ Alycia Lane sues CBS3 | Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/20/2008
  22. ^ Philadelphia Inquirer (2008-05-31). "Larry Mendte Probed for Snooping on Alycia Lane, Sources Say". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080531_Larry_Mendte_probed_for_snooping_on_Alycia_Lane__sources_say.html. Retrieved 2008-06-02. 
  23. ^ Larry Mendte fired | Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/23/2008
  24. ^ Fired TV anchor charged with e-mail snooping - CNN.com
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