TOLEDO, Ohio — The Blade, Toledo’s longtime newspaper, filed a formal closure notice with the state of Ohio on Oct. 23 that outlines plans to end publication on Dec. 31 and permanently lay off 116 employees, The Monroe News reported. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filing, known as a WARN notice, was submitted to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The filing follows a Sept. 8 announcement by owner Block Communications Inc. that The Blade would cease publication on Dec. 31, 2026, unless a buyer could be found, The Monroe News reported. In the letter, as reported by The Monroe News, the layoff is described as permanent and will affect 116 employees, with layoffs expected during a 14-day period starting Dec. 31, according to reporting by the Toledo NewsGuild and state records summarized by Editor & Publisher from 13abc’s reporting.
The letter lists the company’s facilities at 2700 Oregon Road and 6507 Fairfield Drive in Northwood, according to the state filing as reported by The Fostoria Free Press. Affected workers are represented by three unions, the filing said: the Toledo Newspaper Guild, CWA Local 34043, covering editorial, advertising, circulation, marketing and business employees; Teamsters Local 20, covering circulation drivers, casual workers and vehicle mechanics; and IBEW Local 8, covering electrical and maintenance work.
“Effects bargaining, severance pay and/or possible sale of the Company are actions being taken by the Company to mitigate or avoid the closure,” according to the letter, as quoted by The Monroe News. That language keeps a sale on the table even as the formal closure timetable is now set, and the affected employees will have no bumping or reemployment rights under the notice, the filing said.
The Blade published its first edition in December 1835 and is one of Ohio’s oldest newspapers, The Monroe News reported. Today, in addition to its e-editions and online content, The Blade publishes print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. The newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2004 for its investigation into atrocities committed by an American military unit during the Vietnam War.
Block Communications, according to its website as cited by The Monroe News, is a 122-year-old privately held diversified media holding company headquartered in Toledo, with primary operations in cable television, newspaper publishing, high-speed internet and residential telephone services. Employers are required to give official notice to government units of a pending facility shutdown, which is what the WARN filing does, The Monroe News reported.
For Toledo, the filing turns a September warning into a dated deadline: unless a buyer steps in, the city’s newspaper of record for nearly 190 years publishes its last edition on New Year’s Eve, and 116 workers begin losing their jobs in the two weeks that follow. No buyer had been announced as of the filing, and talks described in the letter — effects bargaining, severance and a possible sale — are the remaining paths that could change that outcome.
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