How is the economy and the ongoing implosion of the newspaper industry treating our main man Dean Singleton and his Denver-based MediaNews Group, which owns a slew of papers including the Press-Telegram, the Daily Breeze in Torrance, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Grunion Gazette, and the Beach Reporter in the South Bay?

The latest results are not encouraging, as the Stress-Telegram, the Southern California Media Guild news website reported July 2. “Bankruptcy ahead?” its headline wondered.

“Bankruptcy is imminent,” the Stress-Telegram writes.

“That’s the word from Michael Roberts, longtime MediaNews watcher for the alt-weekly Denver Westword, owned by the New Times chain.

“Unfortunately much or Roberts’ evidence–a subscriber-only report with anonymous sources–can’t be easily verified, so it’s hard to determine the accuracy of these dire predictions. But the numbers Roberts cites are downright horrifying if they’re correct.

“According to numbers pulled from Debtwire and culled from a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Roberts calculates MediaNews’ debt obligation at $1.28 billion.

“Spread out over six loans ranging from $100 million to $350 million, these obligations establish a constant set of hurdles for the company to negotiate. The first of which, a $235 million ‘revolving’ loan, is due December of this year.”

Roberts, the Westword reporter, doesn’t sound quite so glum, however.

“This move doesn’t mean MediaNews is definitely filing for bankruptcy–far from it,” he writes.

“But there’s no doubt the outfit owes a big chunk of cash, with assorted amounts needing to be repaid over the course of the next five years.”

Either way, Singleton and his honchos seem–like the rest of us–doomed to live through some interesting times. $235 million is still a lot of money.

Tags: Beach Reporter, California, dean singleton, Debtwire, Denver, Grunion Gazette, Long Beach, Los Angeles Daily News, medianews group, Michael Roberts, New Times, press telegram, Southern California, Southern California Media Guild, Stress-Telegram, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Torrance, Westword