Small towns, big profits.

The article reports on the steady growth of modest-size newspapers in the U.S. According to Edward Seaton, editor-in-chief of "The Manhattan (Kan.) Mercury" and a part owner of six other Seaton Group dailies in the Plains, they had the best year in 2007 in terms of financial gains, not just at the Mercury, but for all of their newspapers. Houston Community Newspapers (HCN) publishes two dailies and 33 weeklies in the Houston, Texas area. Advertising revenue there grew 8 percent in 2007.