Henry selling T&G but not Millbury plant
John Henry says he wants to find a local buyer for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette but not the T&G’s printing plant in Millbury, which could be part of a plan to redevelop the land on which the Boston Globe sits.
Henry came to the Telegram & Gazette on Tuesday to tell employees that if he can’t find the “right buyer” for the newspaper, “you’re stuck with me.” He said no sale is imminent and nothing would be announced until 2014. He was accompanied by Christopher Mayer, the publisher of the Globe, an indication Mayer will be remaining in his position.
According to the T&G story on Henry’s visit, the printing plant in Millbury built in 1992 would be excluded from any sale. As CommonWealth earlier reported, the Millbury plant could be the key to Henry redeveloping the land on which the Globe currently sits in Dorchester.
The Globe currently prints its own newspaper as well as the Boston Herald, the Patriot Ledger, most editions of the T&G, the Brockton Enterprise, and the northeast edition of the New York Times. If Henry wants to move the Globe and redevelop the land, he needs to find another way to print the newspapers. Many believe the Millbury plant could be modified to handle the work.
Henry bought the Globe and Telegram & Gazette from the New York Times Co. for $70 million. The Times paid $1.1 billion for the Globe in 1993 and $295 million for the Telegram & Gazette in 2000.
Potential buyers for the T&G haven’t surfaced yet, but some names are circulating, including Ralph Crowley, the head of the Polar Beverage Co., who unsuccessfully sought to buy the newspaper in 2009. Mayer said he had talked to some local businessmen in Worcester who were interested in buying the paper and received an inquiry from GateHouse Media, which owns the Patriot Ledger and the Enterprise. The Herald, in its story on the T&G, offers a rundown of some of the potential buyers.
BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
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MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The five-person panel that made recommendations for raises for 67 Quincy city officials, including a 30 percent bump in salary for Mayor Thomas Koch to $160,000, includes three contributors to Koch’s campaigns and two former city officials who worked with Koch.
Boston is poised to ban smoking in all city parks.
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Boston mayor-elect Marty Walsh promises immigration reform at a Thanksgiving luncheon, NECN reports.
Many hope Lawrence mayor-elect Daniel Rivera can bridge the divide between mostly Latino north Lawrence and the mostly Anglo south Lawrence, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
CASINOS
Mohegan Sun and Suffolks Downs have struck an agreement to partner on a proposed Revere-only casino in place of the track’s former plans for a East Boston gambling hall. Shirley Leung couldn’t be happier.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Not every huge retailer is joining the shop-till-you-drop onslaught of stores that will be open on Thanksgiving Day.
New housing construction permits hit their highest level in five years.
As Pope Francis delivers a sweeping indictment of income inequality, the Atlantic charts the Vatican’s journey from anti-communism to anti-capitalism.
Voters in SeaTac, Washington, approve the country’s highest minimum wage, at $15 per hour.
EDUCATION
Nearly 300 Brockton High School students, the most at any school in the state, earned John and Abigail Adams Scholarships this year, an award for full tuition for four years to any public college or university in Massachusetts given to those with top MCAS scores.
The New Bedford City Council has asked the School Committee for a report of assaults on teachers since the beginning of the school year to determine if resource officers need to be hired for the district.
Sandwich and its former schools superintendent reach a $400,000 settlement in a contract dispute, the Cape Cod Times reports.
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA is looking at cutting the fare for The Ride, the agency’s demand transit service for handicapped riders, from $4 to $3.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The wild turkey population, near extinction a century ago, is now so robust that the bird is found in every county in Massachusetts and is becoming a nuisance in many communities.
MassPIRG highlights dangerous toys on store shelves, the Salem News reports.
MEDIA
The Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in the new world, sold for $14.5 million at an auction arranged by Boston’s Old South Church, WBUR reports.
David Skok is hired as a digital advisor to Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory, Romenesko reports.
WBUR has an amazing story out of Texas about a skydiver and his attached client on a freefall toward the ground.