Reports are out from Bloomberg News that Lee Enterprises is scrambling to refinance its debt - seen as an indicator it is moving to avoid bankruptcy.
And: "Lenders will also be asked to approve a prepackaged bankruptcy, which the newspaper owner will pursue if an out-of-court restructuring doesn’t gain enough support, they said."
The Northwest significance is that Lee is one of the major newspaper owners in the region. It has a near monopoly on newspapers in the Magic Valley area (after buying up what were 20 years ago a bunch of independently owned businesses). And in Oregon, it owns the papers in Albany, Corvallis and Coos Bay, and in Washington the paper in Longview.
Following up on additional weak circulation reports in the newspaper industry, including serious downtowns at a number of Northwest papers. Newspaper troubles aren't getting the attention they were a few years ago, but they haven't gone away - or, apparently, slowed.