Florida paper to cut standalone business section

The Lakeland Ledger newspaper in Florida will combine its business section with its sport section beginning next week, writes managing editor Lenore Devore.

The Ledger, a New York Times Co. paper, joins the St. Petersburg Times among Florida papers making such a move.

Devore writes, “This was a difficult decision for us to make — the Business section has always been popular and its editor, Lynne Maddox, has worked hard to present as much local news as possible.

“She’ll (and we’ll) continue to make that our goal, but not all local business stories will be in that section anymore. The best ones will appear on page A1 — not much different than what we do today. On Sunday, for instance, a story on foreclosures written by Business reporter Kyle Kennedy will appear on the front page.

“In addition, some business-themed stories that don’t quite make the front page but may be considered too good to go on the inside Business section pages may start appearing on the front of the local section to give them more exposure. Stay tuned for more on that.”

Read more here.