William Dean Singleton

A federal court in Dallas on Friday approved a settlement between Times Mirror Co. and employees of the Dallas Times Herald who had filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the disposition of surplus assets in the newspaper's pension fund when Times Mirror sold the paper in 1986. Under the agreement, Los Angeles-based Times Mirror will add $7.1 million to an estimated $11.4 million that participants had earned under the defined benefit pension plan. The additional funds will increase each employee's accrued benefits by about 50% if approved by the Internal Revenue Service, Times Mirror said.

ke Massey, publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News and chief executive of its parent, Los Angeles Newspaper Group, resigned Tuesday, saying he would pursue other, unspecified interests. Massey plans to leave July 1, at the close of the financial year for the eight daily newspapers in the group, a subsidiary of William Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group. "For some time now, I have wanted to spend more time with my family and to pursue some other interests," Massey said in a statement. Gerald E.

The company that publishes the Los Angeles Daily News laid off Publisher Tracy Rafter and 20 other employees Monday. Although the Los Angeles Newspaper Group did not publicly announce the changes at the San Fernando Valley-based paper, employees said the cuts were described as a streamlining move. Rafter was replaced by John C. McKeon, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, which owns the Daily News, the Pasadena Star-News and six other Southern California newspapers.

A shareholder group led by a television game show producer said Monday that it had acquired a 9.8% stake in Media General and may seek control of the big newspaper and broadcasting company. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the group led by Barris Industries said it acquired 2.7 million Media General Class A common shares at a total cost of $108.3 million.

Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday launched a much-anticipated upgrade to its online advertising system, one the company termed revolutionary, in a bid to emerge from the shadow of search industry leader Google Inc.

Times Mirror Co. said today that it has agreed to sell the Dallas Times Herald to newspaper publisher William Dean Singleton for $110 million in cash and notes. Singleton, 34, owns 21 newspapers in six states through two companies, Garden State Newspapers Inc. and Gloucester County Times Inc. The Times Herald will be his largest paper and he will move his operations to that city.

A group of Dallas Times Herald employees filed suit Thursday in U.S. district court against the newspaper's former owner, Times Mirror Co., for failing to comply with terms of the company pension plan and refusing to terminate the plan and distribute its assets.

Bay Area News Group, the San Francisco-area newspaper publisher controlled by MediaNews Group Inc., offered buyouts to almost all 1,100 of its employees to slash costs. The cuts involve newspapers including the Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune, publisher John Armstrong said Tuesday. The company won't say how many jobs will be cut or how much it hopes to save.

William Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group Inc. is putting up most of the $1 billion that it and Hearst Corp. are spending to buy four newspapers from McClatchy Co., regulatory filings showed Monday. Denver-based MediaNews is paying $737 million to McClatchy for the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times, according to a copy of last week's agreement made public Monday. Hearst will spend $263 million for the Monterey County Herald and the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota.

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.