ONCE FIRED FOR APPEARANCE : CHRISTINE CRAFT TO BE ANCHOR IN SACRAMENTO

Christine Craft, who sued a Kansas City television station in 1982, claiming it demoted her from a co-anchor job because of her appearance, is an anchorwoman again. She has been hired to co-anchor a nightly news program at KBRK-TV in Sacramento.

“I’m very much a follower of events political and I can’t imagine a better place than Sacramento,” Craft told a news conference called in the state capital on Thursday by the small independent station for which she will start work in January.

Craft had sued station KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Mo., and its then-owner, Metromedia Inc., claiming fraud and sexual discrimination. A federal court jury in 1983 awarded her $500,000 on the fraud charge and recommended that Metromedia be found guilty of sex discrimination.

Presiding Judge Joseph E. Stevens threw out the verdict and found that Craft had not been the victim of sex discrimination. A new trial was ordered on the fraud claim. A second jury awarded Craft a total of $325,000 in damages in 1984.

But a federal appeals court overturned that verdict in June. Craft said Friday that she and her attorney will ask the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to hear her case, and that after the petition is filed they will hold a news conference on the courthouse steps.

Craft began her career in television news in 1974 at KSBW-TV in Salinas. She also has worked at KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara and KPIX-TV in San Francisco.

She now is writing a book, “Once More Without Feeling,” about her case and has been supporting herself by lecturing. She also has made several guest appearances on the NBC soap opera “Santa Barbara,” playing a fictional anchorwoman. She has said she did that for both money and laughs.