In the Tucson Citi ... I mean tucsoncitizen.com, Mark Evans tried to set the record straight on exactly what's going on at the publication that used to be in a printed format, but is now on a computer-only format, but without all that news stuff ... Oh boy.

The lawyers claimed at the hearing on Monday the site is "robust." Maybe they were referring to its potential, just like Evans. This tidbit from him, also used the word robust, was robust with comments that were at times cheerful and optimistic, and others were in this nature: You've got to be kidding.

In another article, Evans says that by June 1 the Web site, which he admits currently resembles the online presence of a daily newspaper (that no longer exists), will make good on a robust promise to be the voice of Tucson and may eventually include a sports writer.

Well, yeah, I guess you can't be the voice of Tucson without sports. Right?

Given some of the court documents that suggested that Lee Enterprises was helping Gannett plot the end of the Citizen last summer, I thought this week's "Random Shots" was right on the money. Nice job, Rand Carlson!

The Tucson Citizen can rest at last.

U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins ruled today against state AG Terry Goddard's request that the Tucson Citizen print version be lurched back to life. You can read the ruling here.

Mari Herreras just called in to say that U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins says he will rule tomorrow morning on the whole Citizen mess. (If you don't know what in the hell I am talking about, keep on reading The Range.)

So, yeah. Tomorrow. More as things develop.

We just received this from Stephen Hadland, the CEO of the Santa Monica Media Company, the company whose offer to buy the Tucson Citizen was turned down by Gannett:

The Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed suit in Federal Court against Lee Enterprises and Gannett Corporation just before 5 PM Friday afternoon. The Attorney General is also seeking a Temporary Restraining Order preventing the shutdown of the Tucson Citizen.

The Judge assigned to the case is U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins.

The Judge has set a hearing in the matter of the closing of the Tucson Citizen. The hearing will be held in Tucson Federal Court at 9:30 AM Monday morning. Lee and Gannett are flying in their Chief Counsels.

They have both filed motions to dismiss the Case.

I understand the US Department of Justice is also flying in a representative.

I personally believe the Attorney General will prevail.

The Citizen debacle just got loonier, with the news that state Attorney General Terry Goddard is seeking a court order to keep the paper publishing. A jilted prospective buyer thinks Gannett is acting inappropriately by turning down his offer and choosing to (mostly) shutter the paper instead. So he asked Goddard to intervene ... and by God, he did.

What happens next is up to a judge.

So ... go to the Citizen's Web site where you can read a surreal mixture of their fine farewell content and ongoing coverage of their will-we-close-or-won't-we saga.

And to those of you who work for the Citizen: God bless you, you poor souls!

The Tucson Citizen will be printing its final edition tomorrow, according to the soon-to-be-ex newspaper.

More details as they come.

Update: Here's the Gannett statement. No word on job fates yet. We've bolded some interesting parts.

McLEAN, VA — Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) today said it will cease print publication of the Tucson Citizen. The Citizen will continue operating its web site, www.tucsoncitizen.com. The last print edition of the Citizen will be published on Saturday, May 16.

“Dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy — particularly in this region — mean it is no longer viable to produce two daily printed newspapers in Tucson,” said Bob Dickey, president of the U.S. Community Publishing division of Gannett. “We are pleased that the Citizen’s web site will continue its role as a place for a separate community conversation. Its staff will focus on stimulating public engagement in local affairs. We look forward to moving in this exciting direction.” Dickey said that the parties’ partnership with Lee Enterprises, Inc. in Tucson, TNI Partners, will print a Tucson Citizen editorial in the Arizona Daily Star weekly to expand the reach of the Citizen’s voice. Lee publishes the Arizona Daily Star.

Dickey added, “We applaud the hard work of our employees at the newspaper. Their dedication to journalism and to the community of Tucson deserves the highest praise.”

Gannett has owned the Tucson Citizen since 1976. The Citizen was founded in 1859, and it is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Arizona. The Citizen has reported on some of Arizona’s biggest stories, including the 1881 gunfight at the OK Corral and the 1934 arrest of bank robber John Dillinger.

Gannett’s joint operating arrangement with Lee under the Newspaper Preservation Act will also terminate on May 16. Gannett and Lee will continue to be equal partners in TNI Partners.

About Gannett
Gannett is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations. Gannett is an Internet leader with hundreds of newspaper and TV Web sites; CareerBuilder.com, the nation's top employment site; USATODAY.com; and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe.com sites. Gannett publishes 85 daily U.S. newspapers, including USA TODAY, the nation's largest-selling daily newspaper, and more than 850 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in 19 U.S. markets. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom's second largest regional newspaper company with 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications and a network of Web sites.

Update 2: Here's The Associated Press take.

One interesting tidbit:

A Gannett Co. official told the newspaper’s staff Friday that the paper will continue with a Web site edition providing commentary and opinion but no news coverage.

The Tucson Citizen is reporting that the afternoon daily's fate remains uncertain.

You know the phrase "the king of all mixed blessings"? Well, in this case, it applies. On one hand, the Citizen employees keep getting a paycheck, and Tucson gets the blessings of another media voice for at least a little while longer.

On the other hand ... limbo sucks.

It's turning out to be an interesting week for those who toil at Tucson's dailies.

At the Star: The Hot Blog, a movie-related Web site, reported today that Arizona Daily Star film critic Phil Villarreal has been stripped of his reviewing duties, and has been given general-assignment duties instead. Villarreal confirmed the report via e-mail.

So, that leads one to wonder: What in the heck is this about? Who will replace Villarreal? Why is the Star doing this, given that Phil and his work were generally respected around town?

Word is that this may be the first in a series of moves taking place at the Star. We'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, in another section of the Tucson Newspapers compound: Ever since the folks at the Tucson Citizen were told several weeks ago that the paper would exist until at least May 9, there's been no further word to emerge from Gannett-land. And, well, May 9 is pretty much here.

To refresh: The Citizen is losing tons of dough due to the fact that the Citizen's circulation has fallen below 20k. Thus, Gannett decided to either sell the paper or close it down. Problem: Gannett only wanted to sell certain editorial parts of the Citizen (the name, the Web site, etc.), and NOT the 50 percent stake in Tucson Newspapers, the U.S. Justice Department-approved merged business entity for the Citizen and the Lee Enterprises-owned Arizona Daily Star. A deadline Gannett set for offers for the Citizen came and went; the paper was slated to close in March; the Justice Department thought the whole deal looked screwy (since the whole point of joint operating agreements is to keep newspapers around) and launched an investigation. Lo and behold, just days before the Citizen was set to close—after desks had been cleaned out and a final issue had been prepared for publication—Gannett said some serious buyers had miraculously emerged, and that the paper would continue on day-to-day while negotiations were completed. Aaaand the Citizen has pressed on in this weird, horrific state of limbo ever since.

Whew!

Anyway, don't be surprised if some sort of announcement comes out of Gannett-land today (or tomorrow, depending on when you read this. We mean Friday, May 8). Rumors are running rampant about what that announcement may be. Possibilities: A new closure date? A sale announcement? More limbo?

Or the most intriguing possibility of all: The Citizen may get a semi-permanent reprieve. Follow me here: The DOJ may be indicating that it would be wrong for Gannett to close their part of Tucson Newspapers and still get 50 percent of what's left (i.e., the Star, which belongs to someone else). Therefore, to still get their half of Tucson Newspapers (which still by all accounts is profitable, and most definitely was raking in decent dough before the economy suckified, despite the Citizen itself being firmly in the red), Gannett may need to keep the Citizen alive.

We've sent a couple of e-mails to Jennifer Boice, the acting head honcho at the Citizen, to see if there was any info she could share; so far, those e-mails (one of which was sent earlier this week) have gone unanswered.

So, keep your eyes and ears open.

Nielsen Online reports that Twitter has a much smaller retention rate than either MySpace or Facebook. Take that, fawning media!

I don't know about you, but I've been resisting the urge to join Twitter. Facebook status updates have almost crossed the line into annoying irrelevance for me. I don't know if I could handle Twitter.