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V O L . X X I X N O. X V I J U LY 2 4 , 2 0 2 3 6 Maine Dunkin' franchisees and the Dunkin' Joy in Childhood Foundation announced a total of $49,000 in Iced Coffee Day grants were awarded to three Maine hospitals. The Barbara Bush Chil- dren's Hospital at Maine Medical Cen- ter in Portland received $32,000, North- ern Light Eastern Maine Medical Cen- ter in Bangor was awarded $12,000 and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston landed $5,000. KeyBank launched its third Special Pur- pose Credit Program1, KeyBank Neigh- bors First CreditSM, which provides up to $5,000 to homebuyers for the pur- chase of eligible properties. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced that the Mapleton, Castle Hill, and Chapman Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue received a total of $121,429 and the Littleton Fire Department $98,800 in federal grants through the Fiscal Year 2022 Assistance to Firefighter grant pro- gram. The grants will be used to update the firefighter breathing devices for both departments. Good Shepherd Food Bank in Hampden announced that its Community Table awarded a total of $750,000 to 59 orga- nizations across the state as part of its 2023 Community Redistribution Fund. The fund was created to break down barriers and increase access to cultur- ally appropriate foods for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous people and People of Color), immigrant and refugee communities throughout Maine. The U.S. Depar tment of Labor an- nounced an incremental award of $800,000 to Coastal Counties Work- force Inc. in Brunswick to provide con- tinued employment and training ser- vices to dislocated workers affected by continuing layoffs in Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo and York counties. More than $35 million, much of it to go to Atlantic right whale-related research and monitoring, was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee and now awaits consideration by the full Sen- ate and House, according to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. The money and language, designed to support Maine's lobster industry, was included in the fiscal year 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state B I Z M O N E Y Masthead Media newspapers sold to a national nonprofit B y A l e x i s W e l l s T he fate of local news was finally determined as a national nonprofit entered an agreement to purchase the Portland Press Herald and all of the other assets of Masthead Maine. According to the Portland Press Herald, the National Trust for Local News plans to take over ownership of five daily newspapers, including Maine's largest daily newspaper, the Portland Press Herald, which has paid circulation of 38,000. The deal includes the Sun Journal in Lewiston, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, the Times Record in Brunswick and 17 weekly papers. Masthead Media principal Reade Brower owns other weeklies that are not part of the deal (including Ellsworth American, Mount Desert Islander and Courier-Gazette in Rockland), the Press Herald reported. The National Trust for Local News, founded in 2021, is a nonprofit whose mission is to provide long-term sus- tainability for local news sources. It also owns a chain of 24 community newspapers, all part of the Colorado News Conservancy, the Press Herald reported. The trust's website lists its headquarters in Lexington, Mass. The deal is expected to preserve Masthead Media's 400 jobs. CEO Lisa DeSisto will continue to manage operations. The closing date is set for the end of July. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by either Brower or the nonprofit's CEO, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, whose LinkedIn profile indicates she is based in greater Boston. A story in the Press Herald in April said Brower was seeking $15 million for the newspaper portfolio. It was at that time that the possibility of nonprofit ownership was first made public — with support being gathered in Maine for a nonprofit known as the Maine Journalism Foundation. The deal announced this week goes a slightly different direction, but helps preserve local news across the state and also ends months of speculation about the future of the newspaper group. Brower, who lives in Camden, bought the Press Herald and other new properties in 2015 from S. Donald Sussman. The Press Herald will be part of a nonprofit trust. P H O T O / A L E X I S W E L L S P H O T O / A L E X I S W E L L S The Press Herald is among the properties being acquired by a nonprofit. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E S T A T E W I D E

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