Lee Enterprises sells Provo newspaper to West Virginia newspaper group, Ogden Newspapers, Inc.

Davenport-based Lee Enterprises announced the sale this morning (8/22) of its Provo, Utah daily newspaper and online news site to Ogden Newspapers, Inc., a privately owned West Virginia company which owns more than 40 daily newspapers, has majority ownership in the Pittsburg Pirates baseball team, and publishes Mother Earth News and Unte Reader magazines.

Financial terms of the sale, which is expected to close August 29, were not released.

Ogden Newspapers is owned by the Nutting family of West Virginia. In June, Ogden purchased the Lawrence (KS) Journal-World newspaper and web site. A month after the sale, Ogden laid off a third of the Journal-World employees, including the opinion page editor, photo chief, a photographer and a sports reporter.

The Provo newspaper, the Daily Herald (www.heraldextra.com) is a 7-day a week daily with a circulation of 20,000 daily and 27,000 Sunday, according to Lee. The newspaper was part of the Pulitzer company that Lee acquired in 2005 along with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.