December 2007

News Briefs

Diboll Free Press sold to Bluebonnet Publishing


KILGORE — Bluebonnet Publishing LLC has purchased the Diboll Free Press from Granite Publishing Partners Inc.

Current staff will stay on at the newspaper while Lois Cooper, publisher for the past year, will return to The Marlin Democrat effective immediately.

Granite had owned the Free Press since purchasing it in June 2005 from Temple-Inland.

Bluebonnet Publishing owns the Kilgore News Herald and three neighboring weeklies.

Rollie Hyde, senior associate of W.B. Grimes & Co., advised Bluebonnet in the transaction.


ACM adds 33 newspapers

DALLAS — American Consolidated Media LLC has added 33 newspapers in four states.

ACM agreed to acquire certain publishing assets of Brown Publishing Co., including 11 publications in southeastern Ohio, and Chesapeake Publishing Corp., with 22 publications in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

American Consolidated Media was founded by Jeremy Halbreich in 1998 and became part of Macquarie Media Group in February 2007. With the latest additions ACM will grow to 104 publications in 10 states.


NorTex buys Ark. weekly


MOUNT PLEASANT — NorTex Press, an affiliate company of the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune, has purchased the Lafayette County Democrat in Lewisville, Ark.

The 100-year-old newspaper was facing shutting down after the resignation of an editor.

NorTex Press also owns the Clarksville Times and a weekly in Ashdown, Ark.

Online realty appraiser partners with newspapers


Zillow.com reached an agreement to put the real estate classifieds from 282 newspapers on its Web site.

Zillow is best known for providing online estimates of what houses are worth in various markets.

The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News were among the newspapers participating in the exchange in which Zillow also agrees to provide some of its technology to the newspapers.


Prisoner gets 20 years for threatening editor


DALLAS — A man who was already serving time in prison on other charges has been sentenced to 20 years in a federal penitentiary after he was convicted earlier this year of threatening a federal judge and the editor of The Dallas Morning News.

The newspaper reported that a jury in August convicted Alan Van DeLaughter on charges of mailing threats to damage or destroy property and of mailing a threatening communication.

Prosecutors said Van DeLaughter was an inmate at the Allred Unit in Iowa Park, when he sent a threatening letter to News editor Bob Mong in March and mailed a death threat to U.S. District Judge John McBryde in Fort Worth.

The FBI and Secret Service investigated the case.


Another weekly is e-enabled


DE LEON — The DeLeon Free Press launched its e-edition online last month.

The newspaper announced the subscription based electronic version and a mail subscription increase jointly, citing increased mailing costs and slower delivery from the U.S. Postal Service.