The Blade, Toledo’s newspaper since 1835, has formally notified Ohio authorities that it plans to close operations and eliminate 116 jobs, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing recorded by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The notice, submitted Oct. 23, lists the action as a closure affecting 116 positions in Northwood, near Toledo, and moves the historic newspaper a step closer to a possible shutdown at the end of 2026.
WTVG reported on Oct. 23, in coverage updated Oct. 26, that The Blade’s final publication date is scheduled for Dec. 31, 2026, and that the WARN letter describes the planned layoffs as permanent, with affected employees having no bumping or reemployment rights. The filing sets a formal closure plan in motion, but it does not rule out a sale that could keep the newspaper operating, and no completed acquisition had been publicly announced in the reporting reviewed through Oct. 28.
The notice follows a September announcement by owner Block Communications Inc. that the newspaper would cease publishing on Dec. 31 unless a buyer could be found. On Sept. 8, Block Communications said it was exploring the sale of The Blade’s assets, and company President and Chief Operating Officer Jodi Miehls attributed the decision to years of financial losses, saying continued investment by the Block family was no longer sustainable, according to the Associated Press reporting cited in the coverage. The company did not disclose the scale of those losses.
The WARN documentation identifies workers represented by the Toledo Newspaper Guild, Teamsters Local 20 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 8 — covering not just reporting and editing but circulation, business operations, transportation and maintenance. A longstanding labor dispute hangs over the sale effort: before the September announcement, NewsGuild-represented employees rejected a proposed two-year contract, saying it would weaken seniority protections, reduce severance and permit outsourcing, including artificial intelligence use without sufficient protections — objections the union stated, not the company’s stated reasons for closing.
In a Sept. 8 statement, the Toledo NewsGuild criticized the company’s approach to negotiations and said employees remained willing to work with prospective owners committed to local journalism, and union President Mac Arnold expressed support for new ownership that would continue serving Toledo and surrounding communities. There is precedent inside the same ownership group: earlier in 2026, Block Communications announced plans to close the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which avoided shutdown when the nonprofit Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism agreed to buy it shortly before the scheduled closure.
The Blade’s history makes the stakes unusually high for northwest Ohio. Founded in December 1835 — two years before Toledo was incorporated as a city — it has covered generations of local government, business and community life, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2004 for its investigation into atrocities by an American military unit during the Vietnam War. Columbia Journalism Review reported Sept. 22 that the paper had already reduced its print publication days and moved employees to remote work after leaving its historic headquarters earlier in 2026.
For the 116 employees in the state filing, the uncertainty now has a formal timetable. The central question for Toledo is whether a buyer steps forward before Dec. 31; until a sale is announced, the company is preparing for a shutdown that would end more than 190 years of publication.
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