As the year draws to a close, a new chapter is beginning for the Mercer Island Reporter. The Reporter has been purchased by Black Press, a Canadian newspaper group. It owns newspapers in the Puget Sound region through its subsidiary, Sound Publishing. Black Press has purchased all 10 papers in the King County Journal Newspaper group: the daily King County Journal; two weeklies, the Mercer Island Reporter and Snoqualmie Valley Record; and seven Reporter papers published every two weeks: the Auburn, Bellevue, Bothell/Kenmore, Covington/Maple Valley, Kent, Redmond and Renton Reporters. Our new owner plans to increase the frequency of publication of the bi-weeklies, to weekly and twice-weekly.

The new owners are committed to local journalism. Don Kendall, General Manager of what is now named King County Publications Ltd., said that he sees “unlimited potential” in community news.

Coinciding with new ownership, we will be launching a revamped Web site. The new site, which has been in the works for months, will go live within the next couple of weeks. Readers will be able to submit photos and announcements via the Web site, and reader photos can be displayed on the Web site. Stories may be easily printed out and/or e-mailed with one mouse click. RSS feeds will be available. The url will remain the same: www.mi-reporter.com. We are looking forward to a closer connection with our readers.

In the meantime, we continue to strive to provide Islanders uniquely local news that cannot be found anywhere else.