It's no secret the Pioneer Press' owner, Denver-based MediaNews Group, is having financial troubles of its own. Two stories in the past week indicate just how much.

In its hometown, MNG could only make payroll for its Denver Post by sucking $13 million from an operating agency jointly owned by E.W. Scripps' Rocky Mountain News, News reporter David Milstead writes. The figure is only through November.

Both Denver papers are losing millions — Scripps has announced the News will be closed if not sold — and the story says banks have stopped lending to either outfit. MNG president Joseph Lodovic calls the report "factually inaccurate," claiming the agency owes the Post money, too.

But it's a fact that MNG has asked its Denver unions to take a $20 million cut — akin to the $20 million Star Tribune management asked of its workers pre-bankruptcy.

Which brings us to the second story. In San Jose, MNG has asked Mercury News workers to take a 15 percent cut, according to the Newspaper Guild. For example, top-scale journalists making $66,500 would be paid $56,525.

To be sure, there are differences between San Jose and Denver papers and the Pioneer Press. Unlike the Post, the PiPress reportedly still makes money. And as bad as Minnesota's economy has been, California's slide has been far deeper.

But one danger is that MNG would suck (more?) funds from St. Paul to keep itself afloat — assuming the ad depression doesn't wipe out surpluses here, too.

As Media News owner Dean Singleton noted in the PiPress two weeks ago, "All newspapers and their employees are going to have to face [the] reality of a lower cost structure. When it's time for us to sit down and look at contracts again we'll have to face that reality. ... I can say from experience that the unions at the Pioneer Press have been very realistic and cooperative and understanding of the problems we face."