Maine newspaper guru retiring

By Ted Cohen

The Maine newspaper publisher who owns a string of weeklies and also manages the printing operation of the state's largest daily is reportedly retiring.

The Ellsworth American reports that Reade Brower is selling that paper as well as the Mount Desert Islander and Bangor Historian.

Brower, former owner of the Portland Press Herald, also manages that paper's South Portland printing plant.

The American report doesn't shed light on the printing operation's future or on the fate of several weeklies Brower publishes along Maine's midcoast under the Village Soup banner.