With Closure of Gannett Offset Plant, Star Tribune Will Print USA Today Midwest Edition

MINNEAPOLIS—June 2, 2015—Gannett Co., the parent company of USA Today, has decided to close its offset printing facility in Maple Grove, Minnesota, where local copies of USA Today are printed, reported the Star Tribune. As part of a commercial arrangement with Gannett, the Star Tribune next month will begin printing 27,000 daily copies of the Midwest regional edition of USA Today, Monday through Friday. The newspaper is not published on the weekends.

The Star Tribune already handles the regional distribution of USA Today, as well as for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and some issues of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. According to Star Tribune, USA Today is its second largest printing job contract involving another newspaper.

Also affected by the Maple Grove plant closure, is the St. Cloud Times, also owned by Gannett. Production of the newspaper will move to ECM Printing in Princeton, Minnesota.

Al Madsen, Maple Grove city administrator, noted that in past months, Gannett’s facility in Maple Grove has been gradually reducing its workforce. At its peak, he told Star Tribune, Gannett Offset had about 300 employees.

Steve Yaeger, vice president of marketing and public relations for Star Tribune, commenting on the new production arrangement, said, "The Star Tribune is pleased that another high-caliber publication will be able to take full advantage of our world-class production facilities to bring more news and information to Minnesota readers."

Financial terms of the deal were not released.