Copley Newspapers

Copley Press Inc. of La Jolla said Thursday that it might sell its 112-year-old Daily Breeze newspaper and two other South Bay publications. Options for the Torrance-based Daily Breeze, the twice-a-week Palos Verdes Peninsula News and the Beach Reporter, a weekly, also include mergers or other transactions, Copley said in a statement, which didn't elaborate. The Daily Breeze recently listed daily circulation of 70,300. Although Copley Chief Operating Officer Charles F.

Copley Press Inc., parent company of the San Diego Union-Tribune, announced Tuesday that it was exploring possible sales, mergers or other alternatives for its seven newspapers in Ohio and Illinois. Copley's Illinois newspapers are published in Springfield, Lincoln, Peoria and Galesburg. In Ohio, the company's newspapers are in Canton, Massillon and Dover/New Philadelphia.

William Dean Singleton's Los Angeles-area interests will expand again next week if the Denver-based newspaper baron completes an expected deal to operate the Torrance-based Daily Breeze. A San Francisco court action remains an indirect impediment, but Singleton's MediaNews Group is expected to win control of the paper and add it to local holdings that include the Pasadena Star-News, the Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Daily News in the San Fernando Valley.

David C. Copley, chairman, president and chief executive of Copley Press Inc., which publishes the San Diego Union-Tribune and eight other dailies, has undergone a heart transplant and is "recovering rapidly," his office announced Friday. In a letter to employees, the 53-year-old Copley said he underwent the surgery June 20 at Sharp Hospital, where surgeons "did a magnificent job." The family-owned Copley Press publishes newspapers in California, Illinois and Ohio.

At the San Diego Union-Tribune, they recall how publisher Helen K. Copley would stride into her Monday morning meetings with the newspaper's editorial board, regal and clearly the woman in charge. In tow, usually several paces behind her, shuffled David C. Copley, her shy, overweight son. The young newspaper executive often wore his wraparound sunglasses. Only rarely did he speak.

Ira C. Copley had already made one fortune in the utility business, started a second in newspapers and won a seat in Congress by the time he set his sights on San Diego's newspapers in 1928. The sugar-rich Spreckels family sold the Midwesterner its morning Union and Evening Tribune -- a transaction Copley celebrated with a dinner at the grand Hotel del Coronado.

Helen K. Copley is transferring leadership of the family-owned Copley newspaper group and its flagship San Diego Union-Tribune to her son David. David C. Copley's appointment as chairman of the Copley Press Inc. and publisher of the Union-Tribune was announced Friday. "It has been my privilege to observe David's development as a leader," said his 78-year-old mother, "and I am confident in his ability and commitment to providing our readers with excellent newspapers."

Roger Altman, deputy secretary of the Treasury, states that for elderly families in the $60,000 income class, they'll have a higher portion of Social Security income subject to taxation "and that's $5 or $6 a month" (interview, Opinion, Feb. 21). I wonder where Altman learned his math? Reasonable assumptions regarding this hypothetical elderly family are Social Security income of at least $800 per month and a marginal federal income tax bracket of 28%.

The San Diego Union and Tribune, whose distinct editorial voices and highly competitive news staffs belied their common ownership for more than 60 years, will merge early next year into a single newspaper with morning and afternoon editions, publisher Helen K. Copley announced Wednesday.

A U.S. magistrate declared on Friday that the public had a right of access to certain government documents filed in Los Angeles in the unfolding Pentagon fraud scandal, but federal prosecutors won a delay in the release of the documents until at least next week. At issue are search warrants and affidavits filed by the government in connection with FBI searches last month at offices of three Southern California defense contractors and the home of a defense consultant.