Abitibi-Consolidated will pay severance to 327 employees at the mill and another 100 employees involved in forestry operations in the area, as well as 40 management employees. The union representing workers at the mill, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, said it would seek to have the mill, which at one time employed more than 600 people, turned over to the Chandler community in an effort to continue operations under new management.

Production grew 13.3 percent, from 627,000 tons to 711,000 tons, with total shipments growing by 22.5 percent, from 630,000 tons to 772,000 tons. Shipments to markets outside Canada and the United States grew by 44 percent, from 146,000 tons to 210,000 tons. Shipments to the United States were up 17 percent, from 391,000 tons to 457,000 tons.

Consumption by U.S. consumers grew 2.3 percent, from 963,000 tons to 985,000 tons, with U.S. dailies using one percent more, up from 780,000 tons to 788,000 tons. U.S. consumers had 40 days of newsprint inventory, while U.S. dailies had 37 days of inventory.

Three additional sites will go on-line next year as the paper continues its U.S. expansion, which is expected to grow to 100,000-circulation by the end of the year.

The FT is on the Web at http://www.ft.com/.

Knight Ridder also announced a plan to repurchase an additional six million shares of its stock, building on a current authorization to buy about 2.1 million shares.

Knight Ridder is on the Web at http://www.kri.com/.

The NAA noted that among Internet users in the top 50 markets, more than three in five read a newspaper, with print Sunday readership among surfers who read papers climbing to 78 percent. The trade group said the correlation between on-line readership and continued strong print readership signaled that the two-media presence by newspapers "are a considerable force."

The NAA's Competitive Media Index did show a decline from spring to fall, with the index dipping from 57.9 percent to 56.9 percent. Sunday readership among adults in the top 50 markets also declined slightly, from 67.8 percent in the spring to 66.9 percent in the fall. But, the CMI showed, broadcast television's audience figures suffered a decline of 1.1 percentage points, falling from 39.6 percent in the spring to 38.5 percent, and radio morning drive listenership also fell, from 25.7 percent to 24.5 percent.

The NAA is on the Web at http://www.naa.org/.

The paper, which will maintain its St. Paul bureau, will dispense with one press run. The added time will be put toward improving delivery service.

The STAR TRIBUNE is on the Web at http://www.startribune.com/.

The dividends are all payable Dec. 10 to shareholders of record Nov. 23. Times Mirror is on the Web at http://www.tm.com/.

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