Morning Star Publications has been sold to its managing editor.
Owner and State Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Seaford, sold the company and its weekly newspapers to Mike McClure, the managing editor.
Richardson said he had turned over day-to-day operations to McClure after becoming a state senator.
That leaves Bryan Shupe as the last media outlet executive in the General Assembly. He is CEO of the Delaware Live group of news and sports websites in Milford and northern Delaware. (Correction – A previous version started that he is owner)
Richardson had been publisher of the now-defunct Seaford Leader and State Register and later started Morning Star, which consists of papers in Seaford and Laurel as well as a regional business report.
The history of Seaford has long been tied to the former DuPont Seaford nylon plant (now Invista) the plant now operates with a small staff after once employing thousands.
It has been said that back in the nylon plant’s glory days, a profit center for the Leader came from rolling up nylon sheets sent over from the plant.
Seaford is now seeing a revival as downtown development gets underway and population growth accelerates in western Sussex County. New employers including Amazon, are moving in.
The sale is the second in recent months in Sussex, with the
Cape Gazette sold to its co- publisher.
Gamard leaves News Journal
Legislative reporter Sarah Gamard has left the News Journal after more than three years on the job.
It comes at a bad time, as the General Assembly reconvenes to deal with a number of issues, including the state budget.
Gamard was part of the pipeline of reporters from the brought-and-tumble political environment of Louisiana who made their way north to the Gannett paper
Sticking around is Xerses Wilson, a Louisianan who covers New Castle County government.
The News Journal news contingent is down to a fraction of its former size with about 30 editors, reporters and videographers.
Their work is supplemented by the skeleton staffs of the former Gatehouse weeklies in Dover, Middletown and other locations.
The former Gatehouse websites have been merged with Gannett daily sites.
