Free Republic

Rocky Mountain News owner E.W. Scripps Co. said Wednesday it will accept bids for the struggling newspaper through the close of business Friday. Scripps then will review any offers "as quickly as possible, but there's no specific timetable for completing that process," spokesman Tim King said. Wednesday's announcement, made among increasing speculation about the future of the News, marks the first time that Scripps has set a specific deadline for dealing with the 150-year-old newspaper. The Cincinnati-based media company had said last month that it would try to sell the News through mid-January, at which time it would explore other...

Scripps Southwest Florida Group met with employees Thursday to say it is eliminating 34 positions, about 10 percent of its workforce. The weak economy, particularly in Southwest Florida, has caused advertisers to cut back on spending, said the company, which publishes the Naples Daily News, Bonita Daily News, Marco Eagle and other local publications and Web sites. "Our business is deeply tied to the health of local businesses, and when they are challenged, we feel it," said Chris Doyle, president and publisher of Scripps Southwest Florida Group and the Naples Daily News. The cuts were made across the company but...

The last few days we've been assaulted by explicit commercials for HBO's lesbian show, The L Word, during prime time viewing of some of our favorite programs on HGTV and the Food Network. I realize they have had a dedication to promoting a homosexual agenda for some time, but this is a leap that needs to be protested. If you'd like to address comments to the President of Scripps Networks, the owner of these networks, you can do so by writing to - John Lansing President Scripps Networks P.O. Box 51850 Knoxville, TN 37950

CINCINNATI The Post newspapers in Cincinnati and Kentucky printed their final editions yesterday, ending a 126-year run. The front-page headline in the last Kentucky Post proclaimed "-30-," a symbol used by journalists, printers, and telegraphers to signal the end of a dispatch. It rolled off the presses about an hour after its sister Cincinnati Post ended publication. The two papers, which were published in the afternoon, have been struggling for decades, part of a national trend. E.W. Scripps Co., of Cincinnati, owner of the two papers, decided in July to close them when a joint operating agreement with Gannett Co....

In the newsroom of The Cincinnati Post, neither Champagne corks nor beer can tabs will be popping on Monday after the paper is put to bed — and not just because of a ban on alcohol that day. The Dec. 31 issues of the paper and a companion title, The Kentucky Post, will be the last for both newspapers, which are part of a dying breed of afternoon dailies. Fewer than 10 cities still have two or more daily newspapers, and Cincinnati was the last two-paper town in Ohio. The demise of The Post, which is 126 years old, leaves...

The parent company of Knoxville-based Scripps Networks, the News Sentinel and several community newspapers announced today its intention to split into two publicly traded companies. The E.W. Scripps Co. will spin off its lifestyle cable television networks and comparison-shopping Web sites from the company’s newspapers and television broadcast stations. The result would be two companies — one, Scripps Networks Interactive, would house the company’s lifestyle cable television networks, HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, the Fine Living Television Network and Great American Country, their Web sites and the comparison shopping sites, Shopzilla and uSwitch. The businesses have combined annual revenue of...

E.W. Scripps Looking for Buyer for Albuquerque Tribune CINCINNATI (AP) -- Newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps Co. said Tuesday it is seeking a buyer for The Albuquerque Tribune, an afternoon newspaper based in Albuquerque, N.M. that publishes Monday through Saturday. E.W. Scripps will shut down the newspaper if it cannot find a "qualified" buyer, but did not indicate how long it will search for a new investor or what price it was seeking for the newspaper. The Albuquerque Tribune currently has a joint operating agreement with the Albuquerque Journal, the daily morning newspaper in the city. That deal, which is scheduled...

CHICAGO E.W. Scripps reported Tuesday that its second quarter profit jumped 37% because of a loss during the year-ago quarter on the sale of its Shop At Home network. Excluding that discontinued operation, second-quarter income fell to $97.7 million, or 59 cents per share, from $105 million, or 64 cents per share, a year ago. Income from continuing operations was reduced by $5.4 million, after tax, or 3 cents a share, as a result of voluntary separation offers that were accepted by 137 employees at its newspapers during the second quarter, Scripps said. Total newspaper revenue declined 8.9% to $166...

E.W. Scripps & Co. cut its first-quarter earnings forecast Wednesday, citing greater-than-expected weakness at its newspapers. The Cincinnati-based media company (SSP) said it now expects a profit from continuing operations of 33 to 37 cents a share in the March quarter, down from its previous estimate of 39 cents to 43 cents a share. A year earlier, Scripps earned 49 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expected Scripps to earn a profit of 43 cents a share in the latest three months. The company pointed to lower-than-expected newspaper advertising sales, costs related to a leadership change at...

NEW YORK Wall Street's darling of the newspaper sector, E.W. Scripps, could be exiting the newspaper business. Executives at the Cincinnati-based company stated during an investor conference on Tuesday they are evaluating different options regarding its newspaper assets, according to research analysts at Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. "We were positively surprised by the company's comments which indicate that management has given more serious consideration to this possibility than we had previously thought," wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert. "Elimination of the newspaper unit would meaningfully enhance the company's growth prospects and likely translate into a higher valuation for the...

The refrigerator is used to lengthen the life of your food, and a new study suggests a similar principle could prolong your life, too. Researchers have found that lowering the body temperature of mice by just 0.5?C extends their lifespan by around 15%. In the future, people might be able to take a drug to achieve a similar effect on body temperature and enjoy a longer life, they say. ... Bruno Conti at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, US, and colleagues designed genetically engineered mice with a specific brain-cell defect in a region called the lateral hypothalamus. The...

About a month ago, lights illuminated the stage at the Hyatt in Washington, D.C., 275 children sat waiting, listening and hoping. Under the lights and in the glare of the ESPN and ABC cameras, they weren’t just children; they were spellers, heroes and competitors. They sat poised before their turns. In front of the microphone, they let the nation glimpse their personalities as they worked their words. Scrawling on hands and arms, tracing on the back of name tags or silently contemplating the next letter. Whatever their technique, the same smile appeared as they completed their task correctly. Elated, they...

Florida Capital: TallahasseeState abbreviation/Postal code: Fla./FLGovernor: Jeb Bush, R (to Jan. 2007)Lieut. Governor: Toni Jennings, R (to Jan. 2007)Senators: Mel Martinez, R (to Jan. 2011); Bill Nelson, D (to Jan. 2007)U.S. Representatives: 25Historical biographies of Congressional membersSecy. of State: Glenda Hood, R (to Jan. 2007)Atty. General: Charlie Crist, R (to Jan. 2007)Chief Financial Officer: Tom Gallagher, R (to Jan. 2007)Organized as territory: March 30, 1821Entered Union (rank): March 3, 1845 (27)Present constitution adopted: 1969Motto: In God we trust (1868)State symbols: flower orange blossom (1909) bird mockingbird (1927) song “Suwannee River” (1935) Nickname: Sunshine State (1970)Origin of name: From the...

Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday declared Boca Raton as the best hub for Scripps Florida among three backup sites, giving southern Palm Beach County a boost as county commissioners vote today to end two years of controversy and false starts in the embattled biotech venture. Bush's 13-page report hinged on the amount of available, ready-to-be-developed land each site offered and the likelihood the project could be tripped up by lawsuits or permit delays.

NEW YORK -- E.W. Scripps Co. cut its fourth-quarter 2005 earnings projection and released its 2006 outlook. In a press release Monday, the media company said it expects fourth-quarter earnings between 48 cents and 50 cents a share, down from its previous guidance of 52 cents to 56 cents a share. The company cited sluggish results its Shop At Home network and Florida newspapers and broadcast stations as reasons for the adjustment. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expect, on average, fourth-quarter earnings of 53 cents a share. Scripps said it expects Shop At Home to lose $10 to $12...

WASHINGTON - Seventh-grader Tyler Curtis says he's never had to worry much about doing well at his studies, and he's not about to start now. That's saying something. Tyler is facing 272 of the country's best young spellers — and the biggest prize ever — at the 78th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee running Wednesday and Thursday. "It would be nice to win," the 13-year-old from Camden, Tenn., said Tuesday. "But I'm not going to get all stressed out over it." His competitors include 145 boys and 127 girls aged 9 to 14, mostly from around the country and U.S....

When the Palm Beach County Commission meets under pressure Tuesday to reconsider a critical decision on construction of a permanent home for The Scripps Research Institute, the future of the ballyhooed $800 million biomedical project in Florida is not all that's at stake. Also on the line are several reputations. If Scripps does carry through on a threat to go elsewhere, Palm Beach County could be labeled business-unfriendly. The state's plans to jump-start a biotech industry could evaporate like so much hot air. And the legacies of Gov. Jeb Bush and Scripps president Dr. Richard Lerner could be diminished by...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A parcel of studies looking at the oceans and melting Arctic ice leave no room for doubt that it is getting warmer, people are to blame, and the weather is going to suffer, climate experts said on Thursday. New computer models that look at ocean temperatures instead of the atmosphere show the clearest signal yet that global warming is well underway, said Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Speaking at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (news - web sites), Barnett said climate models based on air temperatures are...

The Everglades Agricultural Area encompasses more than a half-million acres of farmland south of Lake Okeechobee. Before being transformed into farmland, the land was part of the Everglades' vast watery network. The farming operations' water use and polluted runoff have been a major threat to the Everglades. But now, as the state and federal government undertake an $8 billion project to revive the Everglades, local governments seem eager to pave over this land. Among the projects proposed for the agricultural area is the Scripps Research Institute, the biomedical firm that the state spent $300 million to bring to Palm Beach...

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has announced plans to establish a major science center in Palm Beach County, Florida, focusing on biomedical research, technology development, and drug design. The announcement comes after months of discussions with Florida Governor Jeb Bush and state and local leaders. The facilities and initial staffing for the new center will be supported by Florida state and local government. TSRI will continue to operate and expand its activities and programs at its campus in La Jolla, California. "Based on our history and experience in La Jolla, the extension of Scripps activities will increase the scope and...