Star Tribune says, "So long, St. Paul."

The Star Tribune is shuttering its St. Paul bureau, retrenching the staff to report on St. Paul from the home office on Portland Avenue in Minneapolis, according to David Brauer.

This is the first really visible part of bankruptcy so far.

What immediately sprung to mind, in the wake of the recent limited partnership between the two papers, was that this was a step closer toward a JOA of some sort, but Brauer naysays it:

Still, it's a highway bridge too far to suggest the Minneapolis paper is slinking out of St. Paul in some kind of territorial arrangement with the Pioneer, at least for now. The Strib's coverage area and beats haven't changed; while the weekly section went bye-bye, there's still a zoned edition with daily east metro news.