By: E&P Staff Starting today, The Courier in Waterloo, Iowa, will be printed at the Color Web Printers division of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, which has produced the Courier's Sunday color comics section for years and has provided backup printing -- most recently during flooding in June.
The Lee Enterprises daily quotes Publisher Dave Braton saying that "readers and advertisers will notice a better printed product, and we'll gain several options for creative use of newsprint and color."
The change occasions the layoff of 18 full-time and 34 part-time pressroom and mailroom employees, according to the Courier.
The Courier has been printing on a Goss letterpress converted to lithography 25 years ago and upgraded several times since. The Courier's building would not accommodate the needed new press, however, which would cost millions.
"Installation of a new press in Waterloo was extensively reviewed, along with our chosen option," Braton said. "It is rare to have a major press facility of Color Web's nature less than an hour away. They have extensive press capacity available. In today's economic environment, maximum use of facilities and resources is a must."
Color Web Printers runs a Goss Universal 70 press with 11 color towers and five folders. Besides the Gazette and King Features Syndicate comics for more than 130 newspapers, it prints The Daily Iowan, Iowa Farmer Today and the Lifestyles and "Get Out" sections for Lee's St. Louis Dispatch.
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