Red Sox and Boston Globe Owner JOHN HENRY this morning formally unveiled a new publication called Stat, which is "dedicated to coverage of health, medicine and life sciences." The site "will be edited by RICK BERKE, formerly an assistant managing editor" at the N.Y. Times and a former exec editor at Politico. Berke said that Stat "will be separate from The Globe ... and has its own news staff of about 40, as well as a staff for business operations." Berke added that both he and Henry "viewed the audience for the news site" -- which has reporters in N.Y., S.F. and DC -- as a "potentially global one." There "are plans to expand its staff to cover other cities around the world" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/4).
BRAVO, NO ENCORE: Hurricanes Owner PETER KARMANOS JR. is "suing Compuware, the IT company he founded," over its $2.4B sale last year to Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo. Karmanos' lawsuit "alleges fraud in the transaction and that the sale price of $10.92 per share was too low." Karmanos received more than $52.5M from his stock in the company, and he later was awarded $16.5M by an arbitrator after he "sued Compuware for terminating a consulting agreement he entered into with the company" upon retiring from the BOD in March '13 (CRAINSDETROIT.com, 11/3). Meanwhile, Karmanos was profiled ahead of his induction into the Hockey HOF on Monday and talked about the state of youth hockey in the U.S. and moving the Hurricanes from Hartford to Raleigh nearly 20 years ago (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/31).
THE WORST OF TIMES: Sports columnist T.J. SIMERS' attorney on Monday "urged a jury to award the writer" $12.3M in damages from the L.A. Times, for claims the newspaper "forced him out after he collapsed on the job." The Times "claims it demoted Simers after finding he used his column and an Internet video to promote a business run by a friend, with whom Simers hoped to develop a TV show." Simers sued the Times two years ago, claiming it "pulled the plug on his decades-long career after he suffered a minor stroke in Phoenix," where he was covering the Dodgers' and Angels' spring training (COURTHOUSENEWS.com, 11/3).
NAMES: Wisconsin Gov. SCOTT WALKER "proclaimed Nov. 1-7 as Bart Starr Week." The Wisconsin state Assembly "also passed a resolution" honoring the Pro Football HOFer (AP, 11/3)....MLB Giants SS BRANDON CRAWFORD one day last month "spent several hours at a Disney studio" in L.A. "taping an episode of 'LIV AND MADDIE,' a teen sitcom that stars DOVE CAMERON" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 11/3)....The Sports & Fitness Industry Association has launched a six-month long social media campaign to urge Americans to send digital letters to members of Congress in support of the Personal Health Investment Today Act (SFIA).
