If you are so afraid of lawsuits, then don't call the Star a "newspaper" because obviously, it is not. It's a Thrifty Nickle you have to pay for. That is probably reflected by a sinking number of readers. Who wants to pay for 25, 50 and 75 year-old news and recipes? I don't know what The Star is afraid of. If Ship or the Mayor never sued, then most likely, nobody will.
When I first got here the newspaper was privately owned. The owner/editor was a true journalist who published a weekly column called "Barbwire". In his column, he absolutely ravaged the local government officials, Sheriff, Cops, NHP, School Board, "City Fathers", etc. for all the illegal crap that they pull (and still do). The people could hardly wait for the next edition.
He blew the whistle on executive session violations, open meeting violations, the "roundtable" coffee sessions and dinners at out of town restaurants where the Commissioners or City Council violated quorum to discuss secret business, sweetheart land deals for politicians and donors, changing permit regs for pals to keep business competition from coming in, cops drunken Christmas parties and brawls..you name it. I don't remember him ever getting sued, because he was reporting what was happening. None of these guys wanted their antics moved from "Barbwire" to the front page. The man had the people actually watching what these guys were up to and a lot of them were removed.
Then Lee Newspapers bought the paper and turned it into a Lee "newspaper". The real news didn't go away. Reporting the real news went away.
Subscriptions tanked, so now they have turned it into the "Police Gazette" to try and get the subscribers back. I guess that people behind bars are easy to find and much less likely to sue you. Unfortunately now, the only time we find out which officials have been screwing us for years, is after they have resigned and fled to parts unknown.
But I still subscribe because I enjoy it when they are embarrassed by being scooped, and I'm too lazy to round up the grocery ads on my own.