Yes! Weekly has fired Brian Clarey, the alt-weekly’s only editor in its nine-year history.

Clarey’s dismissal comes on the heels of a rant against Obamacare on the paper’s Facebook page that attracted national attention. While that may have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, I happen to know that Clarey had been dissatisfied with his position at Yes!Weekly for some time, and he says as much in the N&R’s write-up:

Clarey said in a statement that “the decision was a long time coming, and I bear no ill will.

“We’ve never agreed on politics,” Clarey told the News & Record. “I was probably preventing him from having the kind of paper he wanted.”

For his part, Womack came right out and said Clarey’s dismissal “was for economic reasons,” and that the editor’s job will be “filled internally,” which appears to be the case over at the Jamestown News since editor Ogi Overman was canned back in July.

This is never a good sign in an industry that struggles to survive. Womack is obviously feeling a financial pinch, so you have to wonder how much longer Yes! Weekly will be in print. I’d be willing to bet reporters Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg –who have done fine work —are either sending out resumes or looking for a new line of work.