In 1997, the Hills Newspaper chain was bought by Knight Ridder, at the time, the second-largest newspaper chain in the U.S. Following the buyout, former Hills Newspapers employees recognized the lack of a local community voice in Alameda, and again formed a new locally based newspaper, the "Alameda Sun", in 2001. In 2006, Knight Ridder announced its impending sale to McClatchy Corp., a Sacramento-based publishing firm. McClatchy Corp. has put the "Contra Costa Times", which under the Knight-Ridder reorganization included all five of the original Hills Newspapers, up for sale. The current owners of the "Alameda Times-Star", Digital First Media, based in Colorado, have announced a strong interest in buying both the "Contra Costa Times" chain and the "San Jose Mercury News", consolidating the daily newspaper market of the East Bay, effectively under one owner. MediaNews closed the "Times-Star" in 2011.