A Colorado-based nonprofit is moving into Vermont’s local news market, with a deal to purchase five community weeklies from their current owners for a nominal fee, vtdigger.org reported. The transaction is expected to finalize before the end of September.
The Deal
The National Trust for Local News will absorb the Stowe Reporter, the News & Citizen of Lamoille County, The Other Paper of South Burlington, Shelburne News, and The Citizen of Charlotte and Hinesburg. These five titles make up the Vermont Community Newspaper Group, and Vermont will become the fourth state where the nonprofit operates — joining Colorado, Georgia, and Maine.
Majority owner Bob Miller and minority partners Judy Kearns and Biddle Duke had set a goal earlier this year of transferring the papers into nonprofit hands before 2026 ended. In a statement reported by vtdigger.org, the owners said their priority for years had been securing the long-term viability of these publications, and that the National Trust could not only keep them alive but invest in growing their coverage “in a climate where local news is so important and increasingly difficult to find.”
National Trust CEO Tom Wiley said the papers possess “a solid foundation from which a stronger future can be built” and noted the staff’s well-established relationships with readers, advertisers, and community organizations across northern Vermont.
Background on the Newspaper Group
The organization’s history stretches back to the Stowe Reporter’s purchase of the News & Citizen in 2015, with the umbrella company taking the Vermont Community Newspaper Group name in 2019. A sixth paper, the Waterbury Record, ceased publication in 2020, and the company subsequently cut roughly a third of its combined newsroom and production workforce. Longtime publisher and editor Greg Popa stepped down at the close of 2024, after which a five-person management team took over operations.
The group’s 17 employees — 15 full-time and 2 part-time — work out of offices on Mountain Road in Stowe. The papers also produce the Stowe Guide, a twice-yearly magazine running approximately 250 pages. Under the new structure, editorial direction and the advertising approach will stay the same.
Bill Stille has been brought on as a transition and transformation adviser. He previously held leadership positions at The Detroit News, The Columbus Dispatch, and The Buffalo News.
By the Numbers
5 Vermont weekly papers changing ownership. 17 total employees at the newspaper group. $50 million — the approximate scale of the National Trust’s overall media operation. 64 local papers the National Trust assembled across its first three states before recent portfolio changes. 20-plus Colorado papers the organization sold to a for-profit buyer in the first half of 2025, alongside the closure of two others.
National Trust’s Broader Activity
Founded in 2021, the National Trust for Local News has pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy in community journalism, though its record has not been without turbulence. Beyond the Colorado sales and closures, the organization’s co-founder, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, departed abruptly. On the growth side, its Georgia subsidiary completed the purchase of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and The Macon Telegraph from McClatchy Media Company in July.
The Vermont acquisition fits a wider shift in American community journalism, where shrinking advertising revenue has prompted newspaper owners to explore nonprofit and mission-driven models as an alternative to outright closure or sale to regional chains.