The fifth day of jury deliberations in the racketeering and conspiracy trial of Boston gangster James Whitey Bulger brought a guilty verdict on 33 counts which included 11 murders. Bulger was one of America’s most wanted fugitives after disappearing in 1995 until being caught in California in 2011.

Boston station’s responded quickly to the news a verdict had been reached.

FOX owned WFXT interrupted the “Ricki Lake” show at 1:33 p.m. with the news from a tweet sent by the Massachusetts US attorney’s office that said, “There is a verdict in the James Bulger case.”

ABC affiliate WCVB broke into afternoon food show “The Chew” at 1:34 p.m. with Susan Wornick.  “Good afternoon,” said Wornick. “Susan Wornick in Newscenter 5 with the news we have been waiting for now for five days, actually for more than a month. There is a verdict in the trial of James Whitey Bulger.”

Boston NBC affiliate WHDH broke into soap opera “Days of Our Lives” at 1:35 with b-roll of Bulger being escorted to the courthouse by helicopter which was voiced over by Kayna Whitworth. Whitworth then tossed to Ryan Schulteis live at the courthouse.

WBZ, Boston’s CBS owned station, broke in at 1:38 p.m. with anchors Jack Williams and Lisa Hughes who tossed to Sera Congi live at the courthouse.

 NECN cut into regular news reports anchored by Steve Aveson and Mike Nikitas at 1:38 with John Moroney outside the courtroom and Alysha Palumbo inside the courtroom.

Last month’s decision by Time Warner Cable to drop WTMJ has prompted three of its customers to seek a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all TWC subscribers who no longer get the Milwaukee NBC affiliate.

Steven Delonge and Paul Scoptur of Wauwatosa, WI, and Stephen Raymonds of Menominee Falls are looking for unspecified damages for breach of contract and a days credit for each customer affected for every day service was interrupted more than four hours. The plaintiffs are represented by Paul Scoptur’s law firm Aiken & Scoptur.

“My contract is with Time Warner, that’s who I pay,” Scoptur told WTMJ. “They promise to give us Channel 4 and they made the decision to remove Channel 4.”

Time Warner pulled WTMJ on July 25 over a dispute with WTMJ’s parent company Journal Broadcast Group over retransmission fees.

According to both WTMJ and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a TWC spokesperson declined to comment. You can watch WTMJ’s report on the story by clicking here.

Kristen Lowe has made her debut as evening anchor for Traverse City, MI, NBC affiliate WPBN-WTOM.

Lowe joined the station from KWES in Midland, Texas where she was the morning anchor for three years.

“Texas was a great experience and I needed an adventure at the time,” Lowe told the Traverse City blog The Ticker. “The viewers (at WPBN) have gone through a lot and the station has gone though a lot, as far as people leaving, and I just want them to know I’m going to be here for a while.”

The station told The Ticker, Megan Moore will return to reporting duties for both WPBN and ABC affiliate WGTQ after filling in as evening anchor. After Arielle Berlin left the station in April, WPBN tapped Erika Erickson as temporary replacement. Erickson left in May to work at WJBK in Detroit.

Telling viewers of Denver NBC affiliate KUSA, “Nothing’s ever as simple as we want it to be,” KUSA traffic reporter Amelia Earhart admitted she is not related to Amelia Earhart, the legendary aviatrix.

“As many of you may know, I am in the process of recreating her historic flight around the world,” Earhart posted to facebook. “As a part of this process, it became clear it was time to determine the EXACT connection between the two of us. After hiring a team of researchers, I learned today that though we share a name and a love of flight, the first Amelia Earhart and I are not from the same family.” You can see the video of her announcement after the jump.

The traffic reporter Earhart, who previously claimed a distant family connection to the female aviation pioneer and spoke of it recently during an interview on NBC’s “Today” Show, told viewers on facebook while the news was a “jolt,” she intends to forge ahead with plans to honor Amelia Earhart’s fateful 1937 flight by flying around the world in a single engine plane. See the video inside. Read more

WSLS reporter Scott Leamon starts his new role as a spokesman for the Roanoke Police Department Monday.

“You spend a lot of hours covering the news, so I got to a lot of tee ball games in time for the last inning,” Leamon told the Roanoke Times. “This new job allots more time for the family, but there is a lot of work involved, too. I’m ready to work.”

Leamon, whose last day at the Roanoke NBC affiliate is today, told viewers on his facebook page, “Thank you for allowing me into your homes and hearts. And any time you feel like you can’t do something, any time you feel like your back is against the wall, any time you feel like you just might be down for the count…Do what I tell the people who me well to do. Think: “Man. If that knucklehead Scott Leamon can do it, then I can too!”

Leamon has been a reporter at WSLS for ten years.

El Paso ABC affiliate KVIA is under fire for its coverage of KTSM anchor Adrienne Alvarez‘s recent arrest on suspicion of domestic violence.

After teasing the story of Alvarez’s arrest off the top of its 10:00 p.m. news, anchor Ashlie Rodriguez told viewers the station sent a crew to Alvarez’s house to get her side of the story. They then aired footage of a KVIA intern approaching Alvarez in what appeared to be Alvarez’s driveway. When Alvarez backed away from the intern, the intern said, “That’s fine. Thank you for your time,” which was echoed by what sounded like the photographer saying the same thing.

That report left some in El Paso, including a writer at the El Paso Times, questioning if the station was a little too aggressive in its reporting.

KVIA apologized to viewers for its coverage, once at at the end of the 10:00 p.m. news and once the next day when anchor Estela Casas told viewers, “Well last night we aired a story about KTSM’s Adrienne Alvarez. It was a misguided attempt to provide someone accused of wrongdoing a chance to explain her side of the story. However, we exercised an error in  judgment. That type of report does not meet our standards for ethics or journalism and what you’ve come to expect from ABC-7. We assure  you this has been a learning experience for those involved. We apologized at the end of yesterday’s newscast and we apologize again tonight.” Read more

Veteran news reporter and anchor Kevin MacDowell has been named senior reporter after being moved off the WICU anchor desk.

“It was time to make the move,” Pam Forsyth, general manager for the Erie, PA, NBC affiliate, told the Erie Times-News. “Kevin is still a respected employee here.”

Despite reports making it sound like MacDowell found out about the move after returning from vacation, Forsyth told TVSpy the switch was discussed before MacDowell’s time off. Read more

Camille Williams Hepola is leaving Houston NBC affiliate KPRC for a job in the Harris County DA’s office, Houston media blogger Mike McGuff reports.

Hepola will handle public relations and outreach for the department. She joins former KHOU reporter Jeff McShan, who will work as public information officer for the DA’s office.

Before joining KPRC as a general assignment reporter, Hepola worked at KTBC in Austin, WETM in Elmira, N.Y. and WJHG in Panama City Beach, Fla., according to McGuff. [h/t NewsBlues]

Adrienne Alvarez, the primary anchor at El Paso NBC affiliate KTSM, was arrested early Thursday morning on suspicion of domestic violence, the El Paso Times reports:

Alvarez, 28, allegedly was involved in a fight with her husband at about midnight on the 100 block of Desert Garden Drive in Santa Teresa, Doña Ana County Sheriff’s officials said.

She was arrested on suspicion of battery against a member of a household, officials said. She was booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center. She was released on a $1,000 bond later that day.

In a statement, KTSM-KDBC general manager Gary Sotir said the station was aware of the arrest “but will wait for more details before making any other comments.”

Tedd Florendo is joining WCAU, the NBC owned station in Philadelphia, as a weekend meteorologist.

Florendo moves to Philly from Las Vegas, where he has been a meteorologist, reporter and anchor for CBS affiliate KLAS since 2004. He will officially join WCAU on September 9.

“Tedd has great meteorology skills, paired with a positive energy and style that our viewers will appreciate,” WCAU vice president of news Anzio Williams said in a statement.

Michelle Grossman, WCAU’s former weekend morning meteorologist, recently signed off from the station.