Hard times for small town newspapers

DALLAS (AP) - A group of community newspapers covering southern Dallas suburbs is printing its final editions. The publisher said Today Newspapers is shutting down Friday because of a loss of advertising revenue.

Today Newspapers published two weekly editions. One served the communities of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Desoto, and Lancaster, which are south of Dallas. The other covered Grand Prairie, which is west of Dallas.

Publisher Kim Petty told The Dallas Morning News that most of the advertisers were mom-and-pop stores that couldn't continue buying ads in a bad economy. Petty said "there is just not a lot of hope for small-town newspapers."