PORTLAND, Maine — An alternative weekly paper known for arts coverage and political reporting in Maine's largest city has shut down.
The Portland Press Herald reports the weekly Portland Phoenix shut down publication in February after losing a pair of major advertisers. Publisher Mark Guerringue says he made the decision to close the weekly and lay off its two full-time employees, but he hopes the closure's only temporary.
The Phoenix scaled back from weekly to biweekly in January. The paper was once one of four Phoenix weeklies that covered news and arts in New England cities. The others were in Boston, Providence and Worcester.
All four are now closed. Guerringue allowed the Portland Phoenix to outlive the others when he bought the paper five years ago. He says online competition hurt the paper.
