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Alycia Lane is coming to Channel 4 on August 19 as a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter. She takes over as the weekend evening anchor from Kim Baldonado, who last month was promoted to anchor the Monday-Friday Midday Report and KNBC's weekly News Extra. OK, that's the official KNBC stuff. Now here's what Philadelphia magazine had to say in a story entitled The Very Public Self-Destruction of Alycia Lane:
Even after the bikini photos, CBS 3 still thought it could save her....Station management had been encouraging Lane to make more appearances at feel-good events like this ever since May, when she had achieved national notoriety as a “witch,” a “home wrecker” and a “whore.” It all started, of course, when she sent those pesky e-mails of herself in a bikini to NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen and, by accident, his wife, which landed her in The Mother of All Gossip Columns — the New York Post’s Page Six — and temporarily transformed “Alycia Lane” into the second most popular search on AOL’s Hot Searches and the sixth most popular on Yahoo’s Buzz. Page Six had written about her before — an item had her posing “cozily” with Monaco’s Prince Albert. But in the wake of the bikini photos, the Post went on full Alycia alert — camping outside her Washington Square apartment last summer to snag shots of her and her then-new boyfriend, CBS network anchor Chris Wragge, and, in October, reporting that execs at CBS in New York, Lane’s own company, pressured Wragge to break up with her “because of her bad press.”
Still, the station thought Lane would work out until the headline came across: "ALYCIA LANE ARRESTED IN NEW YORK FOR ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTING AN NYPD OFFICER." Her calling the officer a "fucking dyke" has also caught the eye of some gay observers. Then there was the episode in which the (now ex-)anchor of Philadelphia's Channel 3 hacked into Lane's emails and used them to embarrass her. More from the story:
WHAT HAPPENED TO Alycia Lane? When she arrived in Philadelphia four and a half years ago, she had “future network star” written all over her beautiful, high-cheekboned face. She was smart. Hardworking. A good reporter.Today, Alycia Lane is a household name, though her celebrity has more in common with Paris and Lindsay than with Diane and Katie.
Indeed, the incident that put the final nail in Lane’s coffin — allegedly assaulting that New York City cop — may have been the juiciest celeb meltdown since Britney shaved her head. According to reports, Lane, Booker and another couple were in a cab when one of the men got out and approached an unmarked police car at a stoplight. After police officers emerged from the car, Lane got out of the cab, pulled out a camera, placed it against an officer’s face, and started yelling. Police say she then struck one of the officers in the face.That Lane, 35, was accused of violence shocked her co-workers. But losing her temper? Acting holier than thou? Yelling “I don’t give a fuck who you are. I am a reporter, you fucking dyke” — which Lane was accused of doing? (She has pleaded not guilty.) To many at CBS 3, that sounded a lot like the Alycia Lane they knew.
Also, the Philadelphia Inquirer takes note of Lane's hiring in Los Angeles today on a blog and says, "Lane left Philly in July to join her boyfriend, Chris Booker, who in June got a job doing afternoon radio at a CBS station in L.A. Lane was fired in January 2008 from CBS3 after an altercation with New York City police. The charges were later dropped. Lane is suing the station and her former coanchor Larry Mendte."
From 2008: "Former CBS3 news anchor Larry Mendte apologized directly to Alycia Lane for hacking into her e-mails and spreading rumors that helped get her - and ultimately him - fired." Mendte received six months of house arrest, three years of probation, 250 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine in criminal court.
Wikipedia bio info: 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. Alycia Lane has been married twice.
* Updated post