The Vermont Community Newspaper Group, which owns five newspapers in Lamoille and Chittenden counties, has been bought by the National Trust for Local News, according to the group’s owners.
The transaction includes the Stowe Reporter and the News & Citizen in Lamoille County; South Burlington’s the Other Paper; the Shelburne News; and the Citizen, which covers Charlotte and Hinesburg.
The deal was done for a “nominal fee,” according to an announcement. National Trust CEO Tom Wiley declined to name the exact figure, but said the low purchase price will allow the nonprofit to invest more in sustaining and potentially growing the operation. The nonprofit operates more than 50 newspapers in the Colorado, Georgia, Maine and now Vermont.
The sale brings to an end the search for a community-minded successor long sought by Bob Miller, the Los Angeles-based majority owner of the Vermont Community Newspaper Group. Wiley said the nonprofit model will allow the group to focus on its mission while supplementing flagging advertisement revenue with philanthropic giving and other revenue streams.
“The years since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic have been hugely challenging financially, but we now have a plan, thanks to the non-profit National Trust for Local News,” Miller wrote in an editorial published in all five Vermont Community Newspaper Grolup papers on Thursday. The piece is a joint statement of Miller’s and minority owners Biddle Duke, a former owner and publisher of the Stowe Reporter; and Judy Kearns, who formerly owned and published the Other Paper.
The acquisition marks the Colorado-based National Trust for Local News’ first foray into Vermont. The nonprofit owns three newspapers in Maine, including the Portland Press-Herald, along with a slew of community newspapers in Georgia and Colorado.
Miller first approached Wiley for assistance with converting the for-profit newspaper group into a more sustainable nonprofit venture, but the national nonprofit ended up simply acquiring the group outright, the National Trust CEO said.
“We don’t have quarterly reporting to shareholders, and we don’t have analysts looking for a particular kind of growth, and we don’t have debt to service when we do an acquisition,” Wiley said. “There’s much much less financial pressure on the organization to service things that are not core to the business.”
The national trust has brought in Bill Stille, a veteran journalist who has previously helped lead the Detroit News, the Columbus Dispatch and the Buffalo News.
The newspaper group joins the ranks of other nonprofit news organizations like the statewide news website VTDigger, which is owned by the Vermont Journalism Trust, and Vermont Public.
Wiley said the National Trust has no plans to expand in Vermont at this time but will take its time in getting familiar with the Green Mountain State’s news landscape. He didn’t rule out future acquisitions.
He also praised the newspaper group’s “solid foundation” led by an “experienced team.”
Over the past year, the Vermont Community Newspaper Group had steadily retreated from a mail circulation model to focus instead on rack distribution, according to its own reporting. Miller and the other owners acknowledged that the decline of print advertising and increasing costs from the U.S. Postal Service had “combined to cripple revenue growth and virtually wipe out profitability.”
The newspaper group’s new nonprofit status will allow it to potentially attract philanthropic giving and grants, but the incoming owners have pledged not to turn away from advertising. Wiley also promised that there will be no layoffs; the newspaper group currently employs 15 full-time staffers, including four reporters.
This year, the group moved out of historic building that the Stowe Reporter had occupied for decades. Miller put the building on the market, and the company relocated to leased office space on Mountain Road.
Like many community news outfits, the organization has struggled to competitively compensate its staff. Wiley said ensuring reporters earn a living wage will be a priority.
“We certainly aspire to both expand the number of journalists as well as have enough operating income from the organizations to offer the kind of wages that keep up with inflation,” Wiley said.
In 2014, Duke sold a majority stake in the Stowe Reporter and the now-defunct Waterbury Record to Miller and Norb Garrett, both of whom jointly owned newspapers in Southern California at the time.
The collection of newspapers rebranded as the Vermont Community Newspaper Group after it went on an acquisition spree in subsequent years that included Lamoille County’s longtime paper of record, the News & Citizen, and the three Chittenden County papers.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the newspaper group immediately contracted in response to collapsing advertisement revenue. It shuttered the Waterbury Record and laid off half of its newsroom staff.
Under publisher Greg Popa, the newspapers continued to produce award-winning coverage and were kept afloat financially by the glossy, tourist-centric Stowe Guide and Magazine before his retirement in 2024. Popa was replaced by a co-governance model with longtime reporter turned editor-in-chief Tommy Gardner steering news operations.
The National Trust for Local News was founded in 2021 in an effort to prevent the creation of “news deserts” that result from the closure of community newspapers. The organization has suffered its own growing pains. After rapid expansion of its operations, it sold off 21 Colorado newspapers and reduced print distribution and laid off staff at its Maine newspapers last year.
Wiley said the National Trust has stabilized since. The organization still relies on revenue earned through subscriptions and advertising, with philanthropic giving making up a much smaller part of earnings.
“Stability doesn’t mean we’re profitable, it means that we’re running at a very acceptable and manageable rate, and we have some time and some capital to be able to make decisions,” Wiley said.
In 2024, the nonprofit brought in over $53 million but reported $61 million in expenses.
Gardner credited Miller, whom he said could have easily sold the Vermont Community Newspaper Group to a number of for-profit buyers, with ensuring the papers’ mission remains focused on keeping communities informed.
“It was pretty evident that he wanted us to be in good hands,” Gardner said.
Editor’s note: Aaron Calvin worked as a staff writer for the News & Citizen and Stowe Reporter from 2021 to early 2026.
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