After making a bare $171,000 profit in May, the Strib again bled red ink in June, losing $451,000 from operations.

The Strib's operating loss now totals $5.1 million since its Jan. 15 bankruptcy filing. The paper has lost money every month except May.

Higher comp and benefit costs produced June's red ink. The Strib paid out $7 million in May, but $8.5 million last month. The comp figure has bounced around wildly, but is expected to drop as contracts renegotiated in Chapter 11 kick in.

On the revenue side, sales shrunk 2.5 percent, from $15.4 million to $15 million.

In 23 bankrupt weeks, the Strib has grossed in $87.6 million. That projects to $198 million for the year, which would translate to a 19 percent drop from 2008's $246 million. However, that projection could be low, since the Strib can plausibly Christmas-season sales to exceed first- and second-quarter results.

June's operating loss does not include $1.3 million in reorganization costs, a pretty typical monthly figure so far. A $721,000 income tax benefit counterbalanced the operating and reorg hits, producing a net monthly loss of $1 million.

All told, the Strib is sitting on $33 million in cash, down from $34.3 million in May and $36.9 million in late March. The paper expects to emerge from bankruptcy this fall.