What news? Sun Media Group has agreed to sell its assets to RFB Holdings. Reade Brower, owner of Maine Today Media, as of Aug. 1, will assume ownership of many more newspapers in Maine, including the daily Sun Journal in Lewiston, the Forcasters and Current Publications, American Journal, Lakes Region Weekly, Advertiser Democrat in Norway, Rumford Falls Times, The Bethel Citizen, The Franklin Journal, Livermore Falls Advertiser, The Rangeley Highlander, The Penobscot Times, as well as Maine Women Magazine, 95 North, and My Gen magazines. He will also own Sun Press, a commercial printing division.

For those who don't know, Maine Today Media (MTM) includes the Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel, Coastal Journal, The Courier Gazette, The Camden Herald and the Republican Journal, as well as VillageSoup.com, VSTV, The Free Press in Rockland, two newspapers in Vermont, RFB Print Co-Op, Alliance Press and a few specialty publications.

What does this all mean? Probably not much. According to the announcements in the various papers, Brower doesn't foresee any staffing cuts and vows to continue "serving the community with exceptional journalism."

MTM CEO Lisa DeSisto, a fellow Maine Press Association board member (president) and now CEO of both companies, said in one of the stories, "This acquisition gives Sun Media Group and MaineToday Media even more opportunities to collaborate while maintaining the distinct and trusted brands of each company."

We applaud Mr. Brower and RFB Holdings, as well as the Costello family, owners of Sun Media Group, for wanting to keep ownership of these newspapers in Maine and we only hope that we — the Maine Press Association — can only get stronger as the newspaper industry continues to stay afloat by offering new and creative methods of satisfying our readership and garnering support from our businesses.