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A story in the Democrat and Chronicle indicates the D&C is getting the USA Today printing contract, which for a generation has been with the Batavia Daily News, because the paper will finally have a plant capable of handling the job.

Ambor said USA Today had been printed for regional circulation outside the company for 24 years because the Democrat and Chronicle's presses, then located at the downtown building, weren't equipped to handle the extra work.

Construction of the Canal Ponds plant, and the current need to find economies within the company, made the switch possible and practical.

I can't believe a good reporter wrote "find economies." What he really means is "cut costs."

Gannett, which owns both the D&C and USA Today, is struggling like all newspaper companies, but it's problems may be more severe than some. This week the conglomerate announced yet another round of layoffs, reducing work force across the company by some 1,400 people. It also faces a huge debt payments due in 2011 of more than $700 million. There's much speculation in the industry that Gannett won't survive as a company beyond the date that payment comes due.

Meanwhile, Watertown-based Johnson Newspapers has little to say about the fallout in Batavia.

Harold Johnson II, president and chief operating officer of Johnson Newspaper Corp., which owns the Batavia Daily News, declined Wednesday to say how much loss of the contract would cost the company. He said there likely would be pressroom job cuts in Batavia because of the change.

"It's been a mutually beneficial relationship over years," Johnson said, referring to the contract with Gannett. "But there are other possibilities we will explore."