 It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc.It does not publish on Christmas day.Launched December 17, 1896 as the "Tri-State Independent" Col. G. F. Friel of nearby Catlettsburg, Kentucky, the newspaper moved to 12th Street and Greenup Avenue in Ashland in 1900 as the "Ashland Daily Independent"; it absorbed the "Ashland Commercial" in the move.