The Indiana Publisher

January 2019 IP

Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Ala- bama's employee pension fund, with nearly 360,000 members and some $44 billion in managed assets, has become sole owner of one of the largest chains of local U.S. newspapers, the company said. CNHI LLC has been acquired by the Retirement Systems of Alabama, the company announced in a statement. The newspaper group includes 68 daily newspa- pers and more than 40 non-dailies plus websites in 22 states. Among CNHI's newspapers in Indiana are The Goshen News, Kokomo Tribune, Anderson Herald-Bulletin and Terre Haute Tribune-Star. CNHI also owns papers in Georgia, Mississippi, New York and Massachusetts. The Montgomery, Ala.-based newspaper group is being spun off Raycom Media Inc., which is being purchased by the Atlanta- based Gray Television Inc. Gray is the owner of WNDU-TV in South Bend. Raycom was owned by the retirement system. CNHI, which began as a small newspaper group in 1997 and previously operated with the state retirement system as its creditor, will gain stability through the acquisition, chief executive Donna Barrett said in the statement. "We are very excited about working with RSA again because of its dedication to the crucial role of newspapers in keeping the public informed on what is happening in their communities and beyond," she said. Financial details weren't announced. The chief executive of the pension fund, David Bronner, said the Alabama system has been invested in the newspaper group for decades, "and we are very comfortable with the investment." Alabama's pension fund has other nontraditional investments including golf courses, airliners and the largest office building in New York City, 55 Water. Publisher The Indiana Volume 84, Issue 1 • January 2019 Published on second Thursday monthly Alabama pension fund purchases CNHI newspaper chain Legislative Preview Knock on wood, everyone. As HSPA continues to read the hundreds of bills that will be filed by state senators and legislators for the 2019 General Assembly, none so far have sought to eliminate the publication of public notices. HSPA is working with Indiana Legal Services and Indianapolis Legal Aid Society to help indigent plaintiffs publish necessary notices so that they can have access to the courts. Jon Laramore, executive director of ILS approached HSPA with its concern. If a poor individual desired to request a legal name change for her children, she would need to give notice of the filing in a local newspaper. Since it's a private-party public notice advertisement, it could cost hundreds of dollars depending upon which county she lives. Laramore and John Floreancig, general counsel of ILAS, explained that the cost might be too steep a cost for that indigent woman, effectively blocking her from initiating the legal action. Both attorneys said the frequency of cases that fit this profile is few and far between. HSPA offered a potential solution that both legal aid groups agreed to endorse, according to HSPA executive director and general counsel Steve Key. Under the proposal if a plaintiff has been granted indigent status by the court, he or she could file a notice that would be eligible for the same discounted rate that the legislature has provided for state and local government units. A task force of the Indiana Supreme Court has signed off on the idea as did the executive committee of HSPA's Board of Directors. Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Danville, former chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has pledged to find a home for such language in an appropriate bill during this session. A particular bill that would be ripe for such an amendment has not been identified as of Jan. 7. Another bill that HSPA expects to see filed would concern police body HSPA to address public notices, body cam issues and more See Preview, page 5 Deal involves more than a dozen Indiana papers

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