Sign of the times: The San Diego Union-Tribune, the nation’s 21st largest newspaper and owned by privately-held Copley Press, has put itself up for sale, reports the paper itself. Copley has engaged the New York-based banker Evercore Partners, which also represented the publishing company in the sale of newspapers it owned in LA and in the Midwest in 2006 and 2007. Not surprisingly, the reasons are very local: “The last couple of years have been a difficult period for the newspaper industry, especially those in a real-estate dependent market like San Diego…the uncertainties pose too great a risk to sit still.” Harold W. Fuson Jr., EVP of Copley.

The paper’s circulation has fallen in recent years, but still exceeds 300,000 on weekdays and 350,000 on Sundays…its website SignOnSanDiego has than 3 million unique users per month, it said. Copley Press has been divesting its assets in recent years, including newspapers it long owned in the Midwest.