Weekly News in 2025? Time will tell

It's not over till it's over. While the future of the La Conner Weekly News remains uncertain after this issue under Publisher Ken Stern, he remains hopeful.

He is more so after a Tuesday morning phone call with Andrew Ashmore, board chair of the La Conner Community News community group that's seeking to buy the Weekly News.

At a meeting with Ashmore, Washington Newspaper Publishers Association director Ellen Hiatt, and retired publisher Dave Gauger on Friday, Dec. 13, Ashmore tendered Stern an offer of $125,000. Ashmore said the group considered that a fair price. Stern replied he was there to hear their offer but wouldn't negotiate an agreement that day.

The offer was half of what Stern sought, and it left him frustrated.

"That might be a fair price to someone, but not me" Stern said. "That's what I paid for the paper in 2017. Factor in inflation since then and that price would be $162,000."

Monday afternoon, Stern sent the Community News board a proposal, with a sales price below $200,000 and performance term payments metered out over five years.

Tuesday morning Ashmore called Stern. They discussed a schedule for negotiating terms, payments and publishing in January. Talks will continue next week.

"Nobody wants to read a newspaper in La Conner next year more than me," Stern said. "I want to reach a sales agreement with the community group, but I am going to sell at a price that recognizes the value of the business and is fair to me."

That deal seems possible for the first time since Stern put the paper up for sale in the summer of 2022. Still, the Dec. 18 issue is Stern's last as Weekly News publisher. It is a summary and farewell after seven-and-a-half years and 389 editions.

Many in the community find the Weekly News a much better paper today than in 2017. Unlike many other newspapers that struggle to maintain income, Stern doubled the Weekly News' advertising revenue and gained new subscribers. Stern and his staff have won several dozen awards in annual WNPA statewide competitions though the years.

Hiatt read about the pending closure of the Weekly News and first met with Stern last summer. Now she's encouraging a deal where Stern would stay through March 2025 while La Conner Community News continues to raise funds to buy the paper.

Christmas and New Year's Day both fall on the paper's Wednesday publication dates. The paper's qualification to publish legal notices, a significant revenue stream, is an issue if the paper is not published. Both sides aim to prevent that.

"There will not be an edition next week," Stern said. "I am going to a hot springs for a few days to soak and relax. I'm hoping for the best for everybody for 2025."

One other possibility: Stern's lawyer has sent a purchase proposal to Adams Publishing Group, owners of the Skagit Valley Herald. They're waiting for a response.

Ashmore said La Conner Community News is "absolutely committed to be a local news source for La Conner." The group's preference is to buy the Weekly News in order to maintain publishing continuity and its substantial legal notices revenue.

If that doesn't work out, Kari Mar has offered the group her services as publisher, Ashmore said. Mar comes from a newspaper background. She worked at the Bellingham Herald and Seattle Times covering Native American tribes and local news. What form a successor to the Weekly News would take is under consideration, Ashmore said.