Native corporation drops defamation lawsuit

From the Anchorage Daily News:

It's the kind of story that makes Alaska Native Corporations cringe: a U.S. Senator takes aim at perceived waste of government money, with an Alaska Native-owned company smack in the middle of the controversy; the situation grows even more uncomfortable when a reporter digs into the claims and questions why a company from Alaska landed a stimulus-funded job in California and whether that company was the best firm to do the work.

After reporter Lance Williams and the Center for Investigative Reporting published their story "Federal stimulus program pours $54 million into Wine Train project," Suulutaaq, Inc. sued Williams and CIR for $24 million claiming Williams' story wrongfully made the company look bad.

In May, Suulutaaq dropped the case. Executives with the company and its attorney were not immediately available Monday for comment about why.