After decades as a pillar of Sacramento's alternative press, the Sacramento News & Review website is being handed to The Sacramento Observer in a zero-dollar deal. The move tucks the SN&R brand under a locally owned outlet, while founders Jeff vonKaenel and Deborah Redmond say they will stay involved for now. Publisher Larry Lee will oversee the online operation as the papers' digital presence shifts under the Observer's umbrella.
What's changing
According to The Sacramento Bee, The Observer is taking over the Sacramento News & Review and Chico News & Review websites at no cost and will supervise the combined operation. The Bee reports that vonKaenel and Redmond will remain listed officers of Chico Community Publishing Inc., while day-to-day duties move under Larry Lee's oversight. The article also notes that Lee does not currently plan to relaunch print editions for SN&R or CN&R, and that The Observer still sells a print edition at its newsroom for 1 dollar.
From alt-weekly to digital
SN&R launched in 1989 as the Sacramento edition of the News & Review chain, whose roots go back to the Chico paper in 1977. The Sacramento edition halted regular print distribution during the pandemic, with its final physical issue dated December 10, 2020. As The Sacramento Bee recounts, a June 18 post by SN&R founders stated, "We are now in our seventies," and described the handoff as a succession plan designed to protect the journalism. Both The Bee and the founders pointed to long-term erosion of the advertising model that once sustained free alt-weeklies as a key reason for the change.
A slimmed-down operation
The current SN&R site blends original freelance reporting with republished work from organizations such as CalMatters and KFF Health News, a mix that is easy to spot across recent posts on the Sacramento News & Review. The newsroom now leans on contributors, content-sharing partnerships and reader support to keep stories coming. Framed by its backers as a way to keep SN&R's editorial brand alive while trimming overhead, the partnership with The Observer is essentially a bet that a leaner, shared digital setup can keep alternative coverage in the mix.
Buildings on Del Paso
The former SN&R offices on Del Paso Boulevard have already been pulled into city planning talks. City documents identify the old News & Review building at 1124 Del Paso Blvd. and discuss converting it into the North Sacramento Hagginwood Library. As outlined by the City of Sacramento, the property was purchased in 2021 and will require extensive tenant improvements before it can function as a library. The Observer's newsroom and print pickup point is listed at 1825 Del Paso Blvd. in Sacramento County's public roster of newspapers of general circulation, according to Sacramento County.
Regional picture and what to watch
Reno's News & Review was not part of the transfer. Its publisher later wrote that his company acquired that title in January 2022, and that RN&R has followed a different trajectory since. As noted by Reno News & Review, the paper was sold in 2022. The Chico News & Review printed its final physical edition on January 11, 2024 and has shifted to an online-only model, according to Chico News & Review. Analysts see a broader trend at work: the concentration of digital advertising and related revenue on major platforms that puts intense pressure on small and alternative publishers, a theme examined by the Columbia Journalism Review.
The handoff gives SN&R's archive and brand a new steward with deep local roots, but it does not guarantee a return to the thick, on-the-ground coverage that once filled alt-weekly racks around town. For now, the move buys time and a new home for a familiar Sacramento voice while The Observer tests whether it can revive and sustain original local reporting under a consolidated digital roof.
