After 150 years in business, Youngstown's only daily newspaper is about go away for good.
The Vindicator will permanently end publication in mid-August, according to sister organization WFMJ-TV. The decision was announced in an email to WFMJ employees Friday.
The paper published its first issue on June 25, 1869, and has won dozens of awards for its work over the ensuing decades. William F. Maag Sr. purchased the publication in 1887, and his granddaughter-in-law Betty J.H. Brown Jagnow currently serves as publisher.
The Brown family's company, Vindicator Printing Company, also owns WFMJ and The CW affiliate WBCB. In the letter to employees, Brown Jagnow said she and her relatives have "no plans, no intentions, no desire, no thoughts and no interest in selling WFMJ. Period."
Brown Jagnow and her son Mark Brown apparently plan to publish a letter to readers on Saturday, officially announcing the move and explaining the decision. This makes the Warren Tribune Chronicle Mahoning County's closest daily paper.