Boulder Weekly Loses Entire Editorial Staff, Future in Doubt

On Monday, June 30, the editorial staff at the alternative weekly newspaper Boulder Weekly were assembling their next issue. Editor Shay Castle, arts and culture editor Jezy Gray and staff writers Kaylee Harter and Tyler Hickman didn't know that it may be the last, but all were worried about their job security once this issue was off to the printer Wednesday afternoon, July 2.

"[C]an you please let us know the status of the staff layoffs and hours reductions you proposed last week?" Gray wrote to owner Stewart Sallo that Monday morning. "Our work is inherently forward-looking and requires lots of planning. It's hard to do that if we don't know the status of our jobs."

Sallo replied more than an hour later, telling Gray and Castle that there would be a follow-up meeting to "discuss our options" that Wednesday at 4 p.m. — after the deadline for that week's issue to be sent off to the printer.

"It's impossible and unfair to work under these circumstances," Castle, the paper's editor, replied. "Can you please let us know in the meantime if editorial staff jobs are safe?"

Sallo dodged, responding, "Mari [Mari Nevar, Sallo's wife and business partner] and I understand how difficult this is for all involved. ... What I can tell you at this time is that no decisions have been made, and that we hope to have a clear direction after the meeting on Wednesday."

On Wednesday, July 2, after the newspaper was put to bed and due to be distributed on stands and online the next morning, Castle and Gray say they both went to meet with Sallo and Nevar, but the owners just wanted to talk with Castle.

"Stew has this huge paper statement that he starts to read from, when he gets to the part that my employment is no longer tenable, I realize I'm fired and I'm like, 'Okay, thanks," Castle recounts. "I go to leave, and he's like, 'I have more to say,' and I'm like 'Well, I just got fired so I don't have to listen.' He said, 'I'm paying you. Sit down.'"

Castle says she did not sit down, but let the newsroom know she was fired and gathered her belongings. A few days later, on July 7, Gray resigned rather than replace Castle; the next morning, both staff writers in the newsroom were let go. Longtime freelancers John Lehndorff and Michael Casey were also cut loose.

Boulder Weekly was an independently owned alternative weekly newspaper founded in 1993 by Grateful Dead fan and cycling enthusiast Sallo, who chronicled Dead history and his own cycling adventures in a cleverly named blog "The Deadhead Cyclist."

Castle began her tenure as editor in November 2023, when former publisher Fran Zankowski was still running the sales side of Boulder Weekly. Sallo had expressed interest in ridding himself of the newspaper at least as early as 2020, and for a while, up until summer of last year, employees understood there to be an effort by Zankowski to purchase Boulder Weekly with an unnamed investor.

However, in August of 2024, Zankowski returned to his previous role as publisher of the Colorado Springs Independent, the longtime alt-weekly down south, and a purchase was no longer on the table. (The Indy ceased publication and fired its staff in April of this year and its intellectual property was sold.)

Sallo took over the role of publisher at Boulder Weekly officially on January 1 of this year, replacing Zankowski in the role.

According to Castle, the disappearance of the Zankowski deal precipitated a meeting at Sallo's house with Castle to discuss the future of the paper.

"He brought it up, and I was immediately interested in cooperative ownership," she says. The editorial staff began researching the idea of an employee-owned cooperative and began fundraising in order to pay the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center to examine the paper's financials and present options for an employee buy-out.

"He had a contract in February and he didn't sign it until April," Castle says. "Once he signed it, he told the Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center to stop communicating with us; he cut us entirely out of the process."

Castle and Gray say that Sallo and Nevar kept dangling the possibility of the buyout in front of them, but the employees had no insight into any actual progress. A deal was never put forward by the owners to the employees.

Castle says her relationship with Sallo as publisher deteriorated quickly once Sallo was spending time in the office. She and Gray say Sallo encouraged unethical coverage and preferable treatment for the paper's advertisers. Both say Sallo near-immediately proposed slashing the paper's freelance budget to zero.

In April, Sallo informed the staff — on payday — that as of that paycheck the company would no longer pay a portion of employees' health insurance premiums, according to Castle. Employers are required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to give 60 days notice before any change to retirement or health benefits. Nonetheless, Castle says, Sallo and Nevar attempted to negotiate a two-week notice on withholding premium contributions, prompting her to walk out of a meeting with an insurance agent.

Sallo and Castle also butted heads after the tragic June 1 attack on protesters marching to raise awareness of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. On June 2, the morning after the attack, Sallo sent an email to Castle and Gray insisting on being briefed or reviewing any coverage related to the attack.

"I am aware that you and I may not see these issues the same way," Sallo wrote.

Castle replied assuring Sallo the topic would be covered with thoughtfulness and care, and telling him, "I am not comfortable with oversight of editorial decisions, regardless of topic."

Gray says Sallo told them in a meeting the week before Castle was fired that layoffs of the two reporters was on the table, leading to the concerns expressed in emails about job security prior to putting out the July 3 issue. "We were told in that email thread that no decisions had been made," Gray says. "And then Shay was fired."

Gray says Sallo asked him to fill in as interim editor or succeed Castle the following Monday, but quit instead. "I told him I didn't trust him, that I didn't trust in his ability to lead our team," Gray says. "I thought he had made decisions that were unwise and destructive, and I didn't feel comfortable cleaning up after that."

The remainder of the editorial staff was let go the next day. As of July 12, Sallo has released no public statements on the Boulder Weekly website or its social media explaining what the future of the newspaper may be. Sallo did tell a media reporter, Corey Hutchins, he was taking the summer to "reassess the viability of print media."

This may be the end for Boulder's 32-year-old alt-weekly.

Westword contacted longtime former Boulder Weekly editor Joel Dyer, who says he hasn't spoken with Sallo about the Weekly's recent collapse. "I hope the paper can continue on," he texted. "It has a rich history, as you know."

Sallo did not return multiple emails and calls for comment.

Note of disclosure: This author was previously editor of Boulder Weekly in 2021, and worked for Sallo.