The publisher of the Daily Herald filed notice with the state earlier this month that it is considering a sale of the northwest suburban newspaper.

In a Jan. 6 letter to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Paddock Publications said it was notifying the state and its employees 120 days before the potential sale, a requirement of a new law to support the dwindling number of local news outlets across Illinois.

Executives at Paddock Publications did not respond to a request for comment, and the name of the prospective buyer was not disclosed in the filing.

Founded in 1872 as the Cook County Herald, the suburban Chicago newspaper has grown into the third largest daily print publication in Illinois, with a current circulation of 52,410, according to its website. Owned by the Paddock family for more than a century, the newspaper was converted to an employee stock ownership plan in 2018.

In 2023, Tribune Publishing bought the Daily Herald printing plant for an undisclosed price, shifting its own operations there the following year when the Chicago newspaper vacated the Freedom Center to make way for the permanent Bally’s Chicago casino, which is under construction and set for a delayed opening next year.

Paddock Publications fired up the presses at the $50 million printing plant on 21 acres by the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway in 2003 to churn out its flagship Daily Herald. As part of the Schaumburg plant acquisition, Tribune began printing the Daily Herald under contract.

Enacted Jan. 1, 2025, the Strengthening Community Media Act requires a local news organization to give 120 days written notice to employees, the DCEO, county officials and “any in-state nonprofit organization in the business of buying local news organizations” before selling to a new company.

The legislation cites the declining number of local newspapers and reporters across the state and the need to combat misinformation and provide trusted news sources as the impetus for the required advance sale disclosure.

Local newspapers have been in steep decline during the new millennium as digital competition eats away the legacy print model, creating an increasing number of “news deserts” with no local news.

The number of newspapers in the U.S. has declined by nearly 3,500 over the past 20 years, while the industry has lost more than three-quarters of its jobs, according to the 2025 State of Local News report by Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

Illinois has lost nearly 48% of its local newspapers since 2005, the ninth largest decline in the U.S., according to the study.

Meanwhile, more than 200 newspapers changed hands across the U.S. last year, according to the study. Fewer than 15% of daily newspapers remain independently owned, as large chains increasingly dominate the media landscape, the Medill report found.

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