News

Ted J. Watkins, retired executive assistant to CWA President Morton Bahr, died at his home in Manalapan, N.J., on March 24, following a lengthy illness. He was 82.

Dennis Carney, a CWA representative who has flown hundreds of physically or mentally challenged children in his private plane, has retired. His telecommunications and union staff career spanned 38 years. Carney, 57, worked for the Northern Pittsburgh Telephone Co.

The Newspaper Guild-CWA is presenting the first Herbert L. Block Award to Vanessa Leggett, the freelance journalist who served 168 days in a Texas prison after refusing a court order to surrender her notes for a true crime book on a high-profile homicide.

Two reporters for The Seattle Times have been awarded The Newspaper-Guild-CWA Heywood Broun Award for an investigative series about experimental — and often fatal — treatments performed on patients without their informed consent at a renowned cancer center.

Three additional universities have dropped New Era Cap Co. as a supplier of sports apparel, and the ball cap manufacturer was due for a reckoning with the Fair Labor Association as the CWA News went to press.