Kaiser Permanente is expanding its operations on Maui by buying a property next door to its Wailuku clinic. But that purchase will have a direct impact on the Valley Isle's oldest continuously published newspaper.
Kaiser paid more than $13 million for a 6-acre property near the Maui Memorial Medical Center.
The seller was Ogden Newspapers. That's the mainland owner of The Maui News, which prints its newspaper there.
But not for much longer. The Maui News said it will shut down the press.
Publisher Jenni DeFouw said it will continue to be business as usual for The Maui News.
The newspaper switched last year from printing a daily newspaper to a weekly print edition. DeFouw said the property had been for sale for some time because it was too much space for the newspaper and its 20 employees.
The Maui News will move to new offices and continue to publish its online edition Tuesdays through Saturdays. DeFouw said she is talking to other printers in Hawaiʻi so The Maui News will continue to have a print edition.
But the Maui press closing impacts more than just the newspaper. Twenty commercial printing clients will need to go elsewhere.
That includes Pacific Business News. PBN Publisher Lei Pedro said PBN is also in discussions with other printers and will continue to publish a print edition every Friday.
