The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is shutting down, with its owners, Block Communications, citing unsustainable operating costs and a recent court ruling in favor of the union that represents newsroom staff. 

Block Communications announced on Wednesday that the 240-year-old paper will publish its final edition and cease operations on May 3. In a press release, the company called operations "no longer sustainable," saying it has lost more than $350 million in cash running the newspaper over the past 20 years.

"Recent court decisions would require the Post-Gazette to operate under a 2014 labor contract that imposes on the Post-Gazette outdated and inflexible operational practices unsuited for today's local journalism," Block Communications said in a press release. 

The paper had said it would cease publication if it was required to operate under that labor contract, but the news of the closure is still stunning. 

"They've been very open about that and saying that if it got to a situation, they would have to close down the newspaper. But it still feels like a shock today when you hear that yes, they're actually going to close and they have a date certain for it," said Andy Conte, the director of Point Park University's Center for Media Innovation.

In November, KDKA asked the union president about the threat of the closure.

"It's upsetting to see that, but also the Post-Gazette has a history of saying that they're going to shut down at different times and do a different thing," Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president Andrew Goldstein said.

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh said Wednesday's decision comes after the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Post-Gazette's request to stay a lower court order requiring the company to reinstate a contractual health care plan it illegally tore up in 2020. Post-Gazette journalists returned to the newsroom in November, ending a three-year strike. 

"Instead of simply following the law, the owners chose to punish local journalists and the city of Pittsburgh," Goldstein said in a news release on Wednesday. "Post-Gazette journalists have done award-winning work for decades and we're going to pursue all options to make sure that Pittsburgh continues to have the caliber of journalism it deserves."  

The union said they learned about the closure in a pre-recorded video that played at an emergency meeting via Zoom. 

"It's terrible," business writer Adam Babetski said. "You always want a lot of news for a city, especially one of this size. You got a million people in the metro area. And anytime a news outlet closes, it's a horrible thing because people need to know what's going on around them." 

Like most newspapers, the Post-Gazette had been on a downward trajectory for decades, losing circulation and advertising revenue to television, the internet, social media and other news sources. It puts out two print editions a week, but its mostly online presence has still given the region a reliable and authoritative news source.   

"This is the organization that's been telling Pittsburghers and people across southwestern Pennsylvania what's been happening in their community from birth to death, literally, but also government accountability reporting, sports, features, religion, the goodness section," Conte said. "There's so many things that a news organization like that does for a community and people don't realize it until it's gone."

Despite closing the paper, the union said the Blocks are still required to pay back all bargaining unit employees for the costs that were illegally passed onto them. 

Days ago, Block Communications also announced that it would cease operations at the Pittsburgh City Paper, an alternative weekly publication that has been in print since 1991.

Multiple elected officials have reacted to the closure, with Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O'Connor calling the news shocking. 

"We deeply regret the impact this decision will have on Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. The Block family is proud of the service the Post-Gazette has provided to Pittsburgh for nearly a century and will exit with their dignity intact," Block Communications said in a statement.