rances R. Mears, an Associated Press reporter, editor and bureau chief during a journalism career that spanned more than 40 years, died Saturday. She was 66.

Tronc, the parent company of The Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, has acquired the venerable New York Daily News

Gannett said Tuesday it was pulling its offer for Tronc, ending a six-month pursuit of the Chicago-based company that owns the Chicago Tribune, LA Times.

Tribune is just the latest multimedia news company to split up its broadcasting and publishing assets, joining Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and E.W. Scripps, which completed such a spinoff just last week. Such separation is gaining momentum as traditional media seek to adapt to the fast-evolving digital landscape.

One week after boosting its broadcasting holdings with the announcement of a deal to purchase 19 television stations, Tribune Co. said Wednesday morning it intends to spin off its publishing business into a separate company.

Baltimore television stations were expecting little in the way of political advertising this campaign year. Then the fight over expanded gambling in Maryland erupted, pitting deep-pocketed and competing casino companies against one another.

Lawyers for a former University of Virginia lacrosse player convicted in the beating death of his ex-girlfriend have asked a judge for a hearing on a motion to have the case retried.