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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

StarNews Transitions to New Owner

Halifax Media, which recently bought 16 regional publications from the New York Times Company including the Star News of Wilmington, made national headlines this week when the company dropped its plans to have those new employees sign non-compete agreements. 

WHQR’s Michelle Bliss reports that the company’s existing policy on non-compete agreements quickly sparked concern.

StarNews Publisher Bob Gruber says that when staff members for several of the newly-acquired publications expressed concern about the agreement, Halifax Media decided to drop the requirement for current employees. New hires will have to sign the agreement.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that under the non-compete agreement, employees can’t work for any media competitor for two years after leaving the company. Gruber says some StarNews employees were also concerned about another Halifax Media policy on nepotism.

After a few worrisome hours for a handful of staffers, Halifax Media officials also decided to only apply the company’s rules against nepotism to new hires.

With the transition, Gruber says that no full-time employees have been let go and that his staff is committed to reporting local news for southeastern North Carolina. 

After growing up in Woodbridge, Virginia, Michelle attended Virginia Tech before moving to Wilmington to complete her Master in Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. Her reporting and nonfiction writing have been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, within the pages of Wrightsville Beach Magazine, and in literary journals like River Teeth and Ninth Letter. Before moving to Wilmington, Michelle served as the general manager for WUVT, a community radio station in Blacksburg, Virginia. She lives with her husband Scott and their pups, Katie, Cooper, and Mosey.