Despite all the revenue declines and layoffs across the industry this past year, Steven Swartz (pictured), Hearst Newspapers president, had a lot of cheerful things to say in a memo (via Romenesko) to the company’s staff. Noting that 2009’s difficulties don’t need repeating, Swartz offered a list of positive developments over the past year. Among the good news: four consecutive months of profit gains for the division (no detailed numbers, however). As further evidence of Hearst’s good fortune, Swartz also pointed out that the city of Albany, N.Y. has decided to forgive “thousands” of Times Union of parking tickets that were still outstanding.

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On the digital side, Swartz touched on plans the Hearst Newspaper’s new digital strategy, which will be unveiled in January. Come next year, Hearst will extend its Nstein digital content management and distribution system for the newspaper division. Nstein is currently being used for the entertainment unit’s LMK.com aggregation site. In addition, Hearst’s editorial staffers will be pushed to develop more vertical channels, to highlight specific areas of coverage, such as the oil and gas industry in Texas markets or state government in Albany. One of the bigger changes coming next year will deal with the balance between free and paid access.