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MESA, Ariz. (AP) - Freedom Communications says it will close the East Valley Tribune in suburban Phoenix on Dec. 31.

Freedom put the Tribune up for sale after the company filed for bankruptcy protection in September. Interim CEO Burl Osborne told staffers Monday that no acceptable offers emerged.

The Mesa paper won a Pulitzer Prize in April, three months after one of the reporters whose work earned the award was laid off. The Tribune went from a daily to a four-day-a-week, free
publication earlier this year, then dropped to three days a week. About 40 percent of the staff was cut.

Publisher Julie Moreno says the Tribune's 140 employees will be offered severance packages, and some jobs may be available in other parts of the company.

Freedom Communications Holdings Inc. also owns the Orange County Register, dozens of other newspapers and eight television stations.