AOL, Jack Ryan enter suburban Chicago newspaper fray

A media brawl is breaking out in suburban Chicago as new online and print upstarts inflame longtime newspaper rivalries in communities that ring the city. While the Chicago Tribune cherry-picks editorial staff from the Arlington Heights-based Daily Herald to expand its suburban coverage, AOL Inc.'s hyper-local online news site Patch.com is rolling out coverage in 29 suburbs and has plans for 31 more. They're duking it out to grab untapped suburban readers and advertisers before competitors do. The legacy newspapers are redoubling efforts to cover the local market, seeking to stem declining circulations and buoy ad revenue. Meanwhile, national and expanding local news organizations are eyeing Chicago's suburbs for growth, too.