Todd von Kampen North Platte Telegraph
Editor’s Note: The Lexington Clipper-Herald contributed to this report.
DAWSON COUNTY — Two long-running Dawson County newspapers, the Tri-City Trib and the Gothenburg Times, have ceased publication.
A post written by staff on the Tribune’s Facebook page on Friday said Platte Valley Media LLC of Gothenburg, owner of the two newspapers, informed its staff of the closures in a midday phone call.
Platte Valley Media, LLC, is registered in Gothenburg by Steve Windrum, according to the Nebraska Secretary of State.
Windrum was contacted with questions, but had no comment regarding the Tri-City Tribune or the Gothenburg Times.
The message said that Times and Tribune subscribers would receive refunds based on the time remaining on their subscriptions.
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Josh Umholtz, listed in the message as a contact for advertising clients, did not return a call from the Telegraph.
The two newspapers’ websites were still online Friday afternoon, but by then the two newspapers’ Facebook pages had disappeared.
Barb Bierman Batie, a former correspondent for the Tri-City Tribune, said they were told by telephone that publication would cease, “effective immediately”.
The Tri-City Tribune office building had been sold earlier this year.
The twin closures end a brief contest of two newspapers in the two cities launched by the Gothenburg Leader foundation in 2019 and the relaunch of Cozad Local in 2021.
Syndicate Publishing LLC, also located in Gothenburg, publishes the two new weeklies.
The Gothenburg Times was founded in 1908, it was bought by father and son, Vance and Greg Viegutz in 1977 and operated it until 2015 when it was sold to Platte Valley Media.
The Tri City Tribune was founded by Dean Dorsey in 1965; the newspaper was sold to Platte Valley Media in 2018.
Syndicate Publishing, owned by Gothenburg Leader founders Colten Venteicher and John Bell, also owns Callaway Courier and Minden Courier.
His revival of Cozad Local last year resurrected a long-standing name in this city’s newspaper history. The original local debuted on July 16, 1897, and lasted well into the 1970s, according to a journals.com search.
