By DONNA LANGE-TUCKER

Copy Editor

By now, most of the country has felt the pinch of the recession. Some may have felt more than just a pinch—more like a punch below the belt or a well-placed kick to the kidneys. Most every type of business today is losing money, cutting back or laying off employees and when nothing else can be done to stay alive, closing down.

This week the newspaper industry took another hit when it was announced that The Ann Arbor News, after 174 years, is shutting down in July and being replaced by “AnnArbor.com,” a new company that will publish a print newspaper twice a week. Publisher Laurel Champion told the newspaper’s staff Monday morning that employees can apply for positions at AnnArbor.com, but job losses are certain.

In addition, according to editorandpublisher.com, three other newspapers also owned by the Newhouse family’s Advance Publications — The Flint Journal, The Saginaw News and The Bay City Times — announced they are cutting print publication to three days a week starting June 1.

We remember in December when The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News became the first metro newspapers in the country to end their daily home delivery in order to cut costs. It seemed like such a drastic measure at the time, but almost four months later, we’ve had some time to adjust to the idea.

If that’s what it takes to keep our Detroit newspapers in business, we’ll just have to accept it.

Online news is replacing print news faster than ever. Thanks but no thanks–I’d rather read the paper.