Star Press Union ceases publication

MARENGO — This week’s issue of the Belle Plaine Star Press Union is the last. The publication is the latest small-town newspaper to fall victim to rising costs and decreases in advertising revenue.

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According to the Library of Congress, the Belle Plaine Union began as a semiweekly in March of 1869. It was preceded by the Belle Plaine Transcript from 1866-1869.

The South Benton Star-Press was formed in Blairstown in 1919 by the union of the Benton Community Forum, the Benton County Star and the Blairstown Press.

In August 2022, the Southeast Iowa Union, a subsidiary of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, purchased the Poweshiek County Chronicle Republican, Marengo Pioneer-Republican, Williamsburg Journal Tribune and Belle Plaine Star Press Union from Gannett, the parent company of The Des Moines Register.

One month later the group purchased the Hometown Current. The newspapers serve portions of Iowa, Benton, Poweshiek and Keokuk Counties.

Southeast Iowa Union Publisher Matt Bryant manages all five newspapers.

“We are honored to be the new caretakers of these historically strong publications, the papers that so many people grew up with and looked forward to reading each week,” Bryant said following the purchase in 2022.

“Equally important, we are excited to be a part of these strong communities," he said.

The company planned more local content, including sports, and sought the advertising support of area businesses to fund the publication.

But advertising revenue didn’t keep up with rising costs, and the Star Press Union will cease publication at the end of the year.

“We understood that the path would be challenging, but our hope was that we could breathe new life into the newspaper and revive a once proud publication,” Bryant wrote in a letter to Star Press Union subscribers this month.

“The economic headwinds we have and would continue to face make publishing the Star Press Union unsustainable,” Bryant wrote.

“However, we are certainly not exiting the Belle Plaine community. We also publish the Hometown Current which has, for several years, also covered the city of Belle Plaine, the Belle Plaine Community School District and Southern Benton County as part of our regional footprint.

“This coverage of the area will continue,” Bryant said.

Star Press Union subscriptions will be changed to Hometown Current subscriptions. Residents who currently subscribe to both the Star Press Union and the Hometown Current will have their Hometown Current subscriptions extended the length of their remaining Star Press Union subscriptions.

The changes will taken care of by the Southeast Iowa Union. Subscribers won’t have to do anything, Bryant said.

“We continue to believe in a bright future for the Belle Plaine community,” Bryant said. “With your trust and continued support of local journalism, the Hometown Current will deliver the news and information you deserve and expect.”