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CherryRoad Media added to the dozen newspapers it owns in Minnesota with the purchase of the Tower News and Cook News-Herald.
The two papers had been owned by Gary and Edna Albertson but Gary passed away and Edna decided it was time to sell.
The Albertsons owned the Cook paper for 47 years.
“We have been proud to be able to serve the community,” wrote Edna in the paper’s popular “Notes from all over” column. “However, with Gary’s passing it has become difficult. As his health was failing and technology changing he began searching for a buyer who would carry on his work and keep the business as a local newspaper.
“He was not able to complete that task before his heart gave out leaving the job to his son Guy and dughter Jodi.”
Jeremy Gulban, the CEO of CherryRoad Media, announced the sale was completed on April 1.
“We are excited to be taking over the publishing of these two community papers. Our journey began in 2020 with the purchase of the Cook County News-Herald in Grand Marais. We also introduced new papers in International Falls and Two Harbors.
“We understand how valuable these newspapers are to the community, and we look forward to continuing to bring you the news and information you need,” Gulban wrote in a front page story in the Tower News.
Gulban said he plans to introduce a new, state-of -the-art digital printing plant in Cook which would also service the other papers his company owns in the area.
Previously those papers were being printed in Slayton.
The Albertsons owned a Goss press and printed newspapers in downtown Cook for decades and were the last printing plant in northeast Minnesota.
Printing plants in Ely, International Falls, Hibbing, Chisholm, Virginia, Duluth and Brainerd have all closed over the years.
The Ely Echo is now printed in Cambridge with the only other close option being in Detroit Lakes.
