Saving Winsted’s paper

Last week brought the news that the Winsted Citizen, a monthly newspaper with a goal to become a weekly and started by Winsted’s own Ralph Nader, was throwing in the towel. It had produced nine issues starting in February. That was Monday. By Wednesday, it became a rescue story. American Business Media LLC, a Simsbury-based national media company, would acquire the Citizen newspaper.

The new owner publishes seven magazines across the country, largely focused on the banking and mortgage fields, numerous email newsletters and manages an events business as well as providing other services in the communications domain. 

We celebrate the news that the Winsted community will continue to be served. (See story on here.) 

The Lakeville Journal knows about the challenges facing local journalism. A little more than six years ago, in August 2017,  The Journal announced that it was folding its own Winsted newspaper — The Winsted Journal — into The Lakeville Journal. The decision came after more than 20 years of separate publication that began in 1996. 

At the time, The Lakeville Journal reported: “Change is never easy…however, there has not been enough support from the Winsted area to sustain continued publication.”

That news report from 2017 is another reminder of the chill across today’s newspaper landscape. Veteran journalist Andy Thibault, who launched the Citizen with Nader, echoed that reality again last week when he noted that the operation never recovered from a shortfall in funding from almost its start as a nonprofit, called the Connecticut News Consortium.

We have reported several times about the death knell sounding for newspapers across the United States. We have described the so-called news deserts, where  residents in more than half of America’s counties now have little or no news coverage. And some say it’s different coverage when a town has its own newspaper, compared to having a daily come in to cover an event.

According to a recent study by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, the rate of newspaper closures has increased to an average of 2.5 per week from a rate of two last year.

Thanks to our own readers and supporters, The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News survive today to serve the Northwest Corner and Dutchess County.

 Most newspapers that lose a paper don’t get a replacement. Winsted won’t be one of them! 

CEO, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Vincent Valvo of American Business Media has a strong journalistic track record. He has served on the board of directors of the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and was president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information. In making the announcement, Valvo said that he has been cheering on the creation of the Winsted Citizen from the beginning. 

Waterbury’s family-owned Republican-American covers Winsted, and so does the Hearst-owned  Register-Citizen in Torrington. 

Now, once again, we can look forward to Winsted’s future with a newspaper.

Latest News

Cornwall board approves purchase of two new fire trucks following CVFD recommendation
CVFD reaches fundraising goal for new fire trucks
Provided

CORNWALL — At the recommendation of the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department, on Jan. 20 the Board of Selectmen voted to move forward with the purchase of two new trucks.

Greenwood Emergency Vehicles, located in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, was chosen as the manufacturer. Of the three bids received, Greenwood was the lowest bidder on the desired mini pumper and a rescue pumper.

Keep ReadingShow less
Robin Lee Roy

FALLS VILLAGE — Robin Lee Roy, 62, of Zephyrhills, Florida, passed away Jan. 14, 2026.

She was a longtime CNA, serving others with compassion for more than 20 years before retiring from Heartland in Florida.

Keep ReadingShow less
Marjorie A. Vreeland

SALISBURY — Marjorie A. Vreeland, 98, passed away peacefully at Noble Horizons, on Jan. 10, 2026.She was surrounded by her two loving children, Richard and Nancy.She was born in Bronxville, New York,on Aug. 9, 1927, to Alice (Meyer) and Joseph Casey, both of whom were deceased by the time she was 14. She attended public schools in the area and graduated from Eastchester High School in Tuckahoe and, in 1946 she graduated from The Wood School of Business in New York City.

At 19 years old, she married Everett W. Vreeland of White Plains, New York and for a few years they lived in Ithaca, New York, where Everett was studying to become a veterinarian at Cornell. After a short stint in Coos Bay, Oregon (Mike couldn’t stand the cloudy, rainy weather!) they moved back east to Middletown, Connecticut for three years where Dr. Vreeland worked for Dr. Pieper’s veterinary practice.In Aug. of 1955, Dr. and Mrs. Vreeland moved to North Kent, Connecticut with their children and started Dr. Vreeland’s Veterinary practice. In Sept. of 1968 Marjorie, or “Mike” as she wished to be called, took a “part-time job” at the South Kent School.She retired from South Kent 23 years later on Sept. 1, 1991.Aside from office help and bookkeeping she was secretary to the Headmaster and also taught Public Speaking and Typing.In other times she worked as an assistant to the Town Clerk in Kent, an office worker and receptionist at Ewald Instruments Corp. and as a volunteer at the Kent Library.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rafael A. Porro

SALISBURY -— Rafael A. Porro, 88, of 4 Undermountain Road, passed away Jan. 6, 2026, at Sharon Hospital. Rafael was born on April 19, 1937 in Camaguey, Cuba the son of Jose Rafael Porro and Clemencia Molina de Porro. He graduated from the Englewood School for Boys in Englewood, New Jersey and attended Columbia University School of General Studies. Rafael retired as a law library clerk from the law firm of Curtis, Mallet Prevost in 2002 and came to live in Salisbury to be nearer to his sister, Chany Wells.

Rafael is survived by his sister, Chany Wells, his nephew Conrad Wells (Gillian), and by numerous cousins in North Carolina, Florida, Wyoming, Arizona, Cuba and Canada. He was the eldest of the cousins and acknowledged family historian. He will be greatly missed.

Keep ReadingShow less