The Western Star

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The Western Star is a weekly suburban newspaper serving Bessemer and the western part of Jefferson County. It was founded in 1984 by Hal Hodges and since 1988 had operated from the historic 2-story Charleston House at 1709 3rd Avenue North in downtown Bessemer. It is owned and published by John Allan Clark.

When it was founded, The Star competed with The Birmingham News, which publishes a weekly section focusing on Birmingham's western suburbs in addition to its daily editions. It also competed with The Western Tribune, founded in 2007 by Daniel DeLong, who was editor and publisher of The Star before being fired by Star owner Bob Tribble. The Western Tribune folded in March 2010.

In 2008 Dale Jones was editor of The Western Star. The staff formerly included reporter Hunter Ford, who gained fame for his reporting of the controversy regarding the extramarital affairs of former Hoover High School football coach Rush Propst for The Star and The Hoover Gazette.

Bibb Community Media of Centreville acquired the newspaper in March 2022 and combined it with the Alabama Legal Journal, an outlet for legal notices. Matthew Bryant became editor-in-chief, assisted by social editor Donald Howton III and reporter Robert Burgins Jr.

In September 2024 the paper was sold to Clark, who also heads the The Greensboro Watchman in Hale County and the Times-Standard-Herald in Perry County.

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