McClatchy Co. put out an electronic press release at 2:48 p.m. today announcing: “MediaNews will purchase two northern California papers, the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times, and Hearst will acquire the Monterey (CA) Herald, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minnesota. Under a separate agreement between Hearst and MediaNews, Hearst has agreed to contribute the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Monterey Herald to MediaNews in return for an equity investment in the non San Francisco Bay Area assets of MediaNews [headed by Dean Singleton, pictured], subject to, among other things, regulatory approval. In the event such transaction is not consummated, MediaNews has agreed to acquire these newspapers from Hearst. The four newspapers are currently owned by Knight-Ridder, Inc., which McClatchy agreed last month to acquire.” [AP: McClatchy sells 4 newspapers to MediaNews]