Yesterday, FTVLive told you that cops in Anchorage arrested News Anchor Maria Athens and charged her with assault.

In the Jonesing for News podcast that we recorded yesterday and posted this morning, we said that there had to be more to this story…..and boy is there.

Athens had teased a story about the Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and how she planned on exposing him on the newscast. But, she was busted before the newscast and the station never aired a story about the Mayor.

After she was arrested, the mayor’s office released a statement Friday calling Athens' allegations “slanderous” and “categorically false.”

Well, now the mayor admits to having what he termed a “consensual, inappropriate messaging relationship” with Anchorage news anchor Athens.

“I apologize to the people of Anchorage for a major lapse in judgment I made several years ago when I had a consensual, inappropriate messaging relationship with reporter Maria Athens,” Berkowitz wrote in a statement Monday. “I’m embarrassed and ashamed for the hurt I’ve caused my family and our community. I take responsibility for my actions.”

The Anchorage Daily News reports that Berkowitz, who is married, has not responded to questions about why he didn’t acknowledge his relationship with Athens on Friday, when the city sent out a statement calling her “hostile and unwell” or over the weekend as attention mounted and allies publicly defended him.

Athens was arrested for assault and disorderly conduct later that day after a physical fight at the TV station’s parking lot.

Shortly after the mayor’s statement was issued, Athens twice posted a nude photo she said pictured the mayor, which also spread across social media as well.

Bill Fielder, the Atlanta-based owner of the TV station, said Monday that Athens had not asked permission before she made the social media posts, and had been asked to remove “any mention or affiliation with our stations.”

At her court appearance Saturday afternoon, Athens interjected repeatedly, despite admonitions from the judge and her attorney to keep quiet. She said she needed to get back to work Monday to anchor the news. The prosecutor told the judge she’d trespassed on the TV station property.

“I have pancreatitis!” she said at one point.

Athens did not post her $100 bail until Sunday.

The station has not commented on the future of Athens? I’ll bet you $5 bucks you will see an Anchor opening posted soon.

Just saying…