Via the Wall Street Journal:
Family-controlled Freedom Communications Inc., which owns the Orange County Register newspaper, has postponed a plan to buy out two minority partners, Blackstone Group LP and Providence Equity Partners.
Freedom was planning to spend more than $500 million to buy back the roughly 45% stake held by Blackstone and Providence, according to people familiar with the situation. Freedom had intended to borrow from General Electric Co.’s GE Capital and others to fund the purchase, and the deal was nearly complete a few weeks ago, those people say.
But negotiations were suspended amid the credit-market turmoil. Some banks were leery of lending money to Freedom, in part because of uncertainties facing the newspaper industry, and Freedom also faced higher borrowing costs, a person familiar with the situation said. The Hoiles family, which controls the majority stake in Freedom, decided to wait until the market calms down, this person said.
The article also mentions the Hesperia Star:
In recent years Freedom’s businesses have turned in a mixed performance. While the Orange County Register has been buffeted by the same forces affecting all metropolitan daily newspapers, such as the migration of classified advertising to the Internet, the company’s community newspapers and television stations have done a little better.
Well, sort of.
My niece Kate was smitten with James, and wanted to include him in much of her play while we were all together. Late Christmas night, she insisted on being picked up by my brother Joel before bedtime, and then on him picking up “Cousin James,” too. Standing in front of the mirror over my parents’ couch, he asked her who she saw.
“Cousin James.”
“And who’s the other one?”
“Cousin Me!”
She wasn’t sure what the new vocabulary word meant, but she was eager to use it as much as possible anyway. Not bad for all of 2 years old.
Here are the images from our aforementioned 2007 Christmas card, for those of you who didn’t get one. (We either didn’t have your mailing address, or you’re highly Scroogey.)
 So, you’ve seen Blizzard’s new holiday wallpaper, right? The troll with braces is cute.
For some reason, they always leave out the punchline for the holiday card when they post it as wallpaper. This year, it’s “Uggh’s and Kisses from Blizzard Entertainment.”
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,� I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.�
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.�
Adapted from “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
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