Paper will not be published week of July 9

Albany News customers should be on the lookout for a couple of changes over the next few weeks.

Both readers and advertisers are asked to be aware that no newspaper will be published, either in print or online, during the week of July 6.

“There will not be an edition on Thursday, July 9,” said News editor Melinda Lucas. “We hope we’re giving everyone ample notice that we’re going to take that week off to spend time with our families.”

This is only the third time in 43 years of Lucas ownership that there hasn’t been a weekly paper.

The News office will be open on Monday through Thursday of that week, but will be closed on Friday, as it has been for the last few weeks.

Lucas noted that there will be a paper the week before on July 2, but because Independence Day falls on a Saturday, there is no need for an early deadline for that issue.

Print Schedule

Since the printing press operation at the Abilene Reporter-News is shutting down, The Albany News will be printed in Lubbock starting July 16.

After researching several printing plants in the area, the News staff has decided to go back with the Lubbock firm that published the paper for several months in late 2018 and early 2019 when the Reporter-News building was damaged by a fire.

“We will upload the pages electronically on the same schedule that we do now,” said Lucas, “but it will not be delivered back to us until the middle of the night on Wednesdays.”

Rather than being distributed to newsstands on Wednesday nights, the paper will be taken to local stores early on Thursday mornings, as it used to be until the last year or so.

Mail and online subscribers should not see any difference in delivery time, said Lucas.