Wendy McCaw(ful) stories never fail to enthrall us. The empress of the Santa Barbara News-Press continues to make headlines. In fact, this week in the Santa Barbara Independent, she’s making three.

A Barney Brantingham column, calling McCaw(ful) out on her sleazy front-page character assassination of former editor Jerry Roberts.

A news piece about how staff computers at the N-P have been blocked from viewing the Independent’s Web site.

And a Nick Welsh column that discusses how unfunny this entire affair has gotten. Unfunny, sure, but not in the least bit boring.

Zell’s swell, but the really interesting media news is happening in a sleepy enclave up north.