About 21 months ago, TPA's monthly newsletter, The Messenger, ran unadulterated, unedited and uncut, a column from the owner of the newspapers in Granbury, Azle and Springtown, about how he was merging the latter two and this would be so incredible.
Incredible, beyond TPA running the column as is, was the braggadocio — and worse — that was in it, as I noted at the time.
But, 21 months later, the Tri-County News (whose name was itself a bit of braggadocio) — is no more, per Austin Lewter's column on page 3 of the March Messenger. Per Austin's reflections in general, yes, rises in postal rates continue to have a bite. But, I don't think that's what happened here. Rather, he had a "unicorn" of sorts who relatively recently retired, and I think that, whether money, job details, a mix, or whatever, he couldn't really find a replacement, for whatever reason didn't really try to sell, and so just pulled the plug to focus on Granbury and Gatesville.
Update, April 4: Azle and Springtown have been resurrected, and Houston's old right-hand person, Kim Ware, is coming back out of the retirement she entered into before the closure. There's surely a backstory there. That said, this brings to light a problem with TPA's website — no search function.
