Johnson County Sun Shuts Down, Staff Let Go

The Johnson County Sun, a suburban newspaper mainstay for half a century, has shut down.

Lee Sawyer, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of parent company NPG Newspapers Inc., told employees Tuesday that the paper was suspending operations indefinitely.

That meant laying off the staff of 20 reporters, editors and sales representatives immediately and bringing its publication to an end, Sawyer said.

He said that while the paper has moved closer to profitability in the last six months, it had been losing money one month after the next for years.