Calista to shut down, liquidate Alaska Newspapers

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ALASKA_NEWSPAPERS_CLOSING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-23-02-29-17

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Rising costs have prompted an Alaska company to close six weekly newspapers that serve rural and largely Alaska Native communities, putting nearly 40 people out of work.

Calista Corp., an Anchorage-based Alaska Native corporation which has owned the Alaska Newspaper Inc. chain for 19 years, announced Friday the increasing costs of fuel, paper and print technology led to the board's decision to shutter the chain and liquidate.

"As a responsibility to our 12,000 shareholders, we had to take a hard look at the subsidiary and make a tough decision," Calista President and CEO Andrew Guy said in a statement.

The weeklies in the chain include the Arctic Sounder, the Bristol Bay Times, the Cordova Times, the Dutch Harbor Fisherman, the Seward Phoenix Log and the award-winning Tundra Drums, which the Alaska Press Association voted the state's best weekly newspaper this year. The last issues will be sometime in August.