Chicago Free Press has folded after 11 years as one of two principal newspapers serving the city's GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) community.
"Due to health problems, Publisher David Costanzo is no longer funding the operation of Chicago Free Press," the paper's managing editor, Kerrie Kennedy, said in an announcement. "Consequently, the paper's April 29 issue was not published, and it is not expected that any additional issues will be published."
The newspaper had appeared to be struggling since December, when several employees walked off the job saying they hadn't been paid in weeks. Costanzo met the payroll and much of the staff returned.
Kennedy told the GLBT magazine The Advocate that the staff again had not been paid since the end of March.
The Free Press was launched in 1999 by former employees of Windy City Times, Chicago's other principal GLBT newspaper.
Windy City Times Publisher and Managing Editor said she found no satisfaction in the rival paper's demise.
"All media, gay and mainstream, are facing new and difficult paths to survival. So it is never a good thing when a media outlet closes," she wrote on the newspaper's Web site.
We at Windy City Times will continue to strive to cover all parts of our community through every tool at our disposal, from traditional newsprint to iPhones, the Internet, video and podcasting."
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