Updated on October 5, 2017.

The owners of the Bennington Banner were trying to tamp down a firestorm of criticism over a political cartoon in Tuesday's paper that addressed the Las Vegas mass shooting. Top executives of its owner, New England Newspapers, have written public apologies, and the firm's president made a quick trip from company headquarters in Pittsfield, Mass., to Bennington Wednesday to meet with offended readers.

The cartoon, by syndicated cartoonist Randall Enos, included the legend "Whatever Happens In Vegas..." above a drawing of a haphazard pile of bodies, drawn in outline without features, scattered on the ground. More than 1,000 people posted comments on the Banner's Facebook page objecting, in very strong terms, to the publication of the cartoon.

The story has brought widespread attention to the paper — so much so that when you Google "Bennington Banner," the first autofill option is "cartoon." Not only have national media picked it up, but so have papers in Great Britain and Australia.

Enos is an illustrator and cartoonist with more than 60 years of experience. When reached at his Connecticut home Wednesday afternoon, he was apparently unaware of the controversy he had sparked.

After a long search for the right buyer, Ken Squier found his man working right there next to him.

In a Friday afternoon press release, Squier announced the sale of the Waterbury-based Radio Vermont Group, which includes WDEV-AM and FM, to the firm’s director of sales, Steve Cormier.

“I am thrilled that after 87 years [of Squier family ownership] the station will remain among Vermonters,” said Squier in the release.

Squier’s father, Lloyd, founded WDEV in 1931, and the station continues to offer predominantly local programming. Ken Squier, 82, has worked at the station since he was 12 years old; he also achieved national fame as a NASCAR broadcaster, and he is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

In addition to WDEV, the Radio Vermont Group also operates 101 the One, which plays classic hit songs, and country station WLVB-FM in Morrisville.

Squier had been quietly looking for a buyer for a couple of years. His search was first reported by Seven Days in June. At the time, he said he was looking for “a Vermonter or some Vermonters who are interested in and dedicated to local programming.”

Cormier would seem to be a good fit. Before joining the Radio Vermont Group in 2015, he was station manager at WTSA Radio in Brattleboro. And that followed a 26-year run in Burlington broadcasting, most famously as cohost of the “Corm and the Coach” morning show.

“Local radio, there’s nothing like it!” Cormier said. WDEV’s local-heavy format, he added, “ain’t going anywhere.” That includes Squier, who does weekday sportscasts on WDEV and the renowned “Music to Go to the Dump By” show Saturdays at 9 a.m.

“I want him there every day,” said Cormier of Squier, who will serve as an advisor as well. “‘The Dump’ show, sports, until he decides he doesn’t want to do it anymore.”

Cormier also plans no changes at WLVB-FM, and minimal changes, if any, at 101 the One.

Cormier professed a personal commitment to maintaining WDEV’s emphasis on local programming. “I’ve worked for Clear Channel,” he said of the nation’s biggest radio conglomerate, now known as iHeartMedia. “I saw what they did. They didn’t care about their communities.”

The sale is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission, which is expected to take a few months. Cormier would not discuss the sale price, referring inquiries to Squier, who did not respond to requests for comment.

There will be one departure from Radio Vermont. Eric Michaels, vice president, general manager and cohost of WDEV’s “Morning News Service,” is resigning. Cormier noted that Michaels has “done wonderful things” in bolstering the company over the years.

“For 30 years, Eric has managed to maintain and grow the Radio Vermont Group as a relevant broadcasting voice in Vermont,” Squier’s press release said.

Cormier promised no changes, but he realizes that the broadcasting industry is constantly evolving. And WDEV itself has changed — slowly, deliberately — over time. He plans a collaborative approach to the future.

“There are a lot of bright people at those stations,” he said. “Any major decision I make, I’ll talk to Ken about.”

Ken Squier, owner of the Radio Vermont Group, has confirmed that his company is for sale. It's a milestone for a fixture of Vermont broadcasting, held in the same family for 86 years.

The heart of the company is "the friendly pioneer," Waterbury's WDEV-AM, founded by Ken's father, Lloyd Squier, in 1931. In recent years, the group has grown to a total of four transmitters plus four lower-powered "translators" that boost a station's signal in weak spots.

The company operates two streams of programming: WDEV-AM and FM broadcast local news, talk, sports, music and weather; and "The One" is a music station that plays hit songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. (The music stations were devoted to classical music until Vermont Public Radio built out a statewide classical network.)

In an age of mega-corporate broadcasters and national syndication, WDEV is a throwback, still producing the bulk of its programming on-site with a strong focus on serving its community. Squier says he's looking for a buyer that shares his values and commitment.

The owners of three central Vermont newspapers — the Stowe Reporter, Waterbury Record, and the News & Citizen of Morrisville — are expanding into Chittenden County with the purchase of the Shelburne News and the Citizen, which covers Charlotte and Hinesburg.

According to the Stowe Reporter, which announced the sale Wednesday in a story on its website, the deal took effect last week. The article quoted Stowe Reporter group publisher Greg Popa as saying that the company's move into Chittenden County was a “natural” one, since it already had advertising connections there through its membership in the Burlington Area Newspaper Group.

Holly Johnson, president of Wind Ridge Publishing and Wind Ridge Books, previously owned the Citizen and the News. Her buyers, not identified in the Reporter story, are Bob Miller and Norb Garrett, who own a trio of weekly newspapers in San Clemente, Dana Point and Capistrano, California. Miller and Garrett acquired the Stowe Reporter Group in 2014.

Sad news for consumers of partisan right-wing journalism. The online outlet called Vermont Watchdog appears to be in suspended animation — its future subject to the plans of its distant benefactor.

On March 29, we brought you the story of Vermont Watchdog's new bureau chief, Lou Varricchio, a veteran newsman who had been running the Middlebury-based weekly Vermont Eagle. He joined the Watchdog in January with plans to make the website a serious player in Vermont journalism.

Must be a Seven Days curse. Less than four weeks after the story was published, Varricchio had left Vermont Watchdog and returned to the Eagle. What's more, the online outlet hasn't posted an original story since April 13.

"Watchdog is being reorganized, and I left," said Varricchio when reached by phone at the Eagle offices. He referred me to Watchdog's national headquarters and said, "Beyond that, I can't tell you anything."