The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that a local Guelph, Ont., publisher is rushing to fill some of the void from the closure of that town's Mercury newspaper on Jan. 29. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that Village Media is launching GuelphToday.com, promising local on-line news coverage with two former Mercury reporters as its first full-time hires. Village Media has ambitions to expand, looking to tap a thirst for local news in cities with fewer than 250,000 people. Based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., its network of free websites began with a single coupon site, expanding into news coverage over the years. Village received more than 50 job applications in the first week after news the Mercury would stop printing, as well as interest from local advertisers. Rob O'Flanagan and Tony Saxon will be the lone full-time reporters for now, but columnists Scott Tracey and Owen Roberts have agreed to write regular opinion pieces. GuelphToday will compete with the surviving Mercury website. Metroland Media, the division of Torstar that owned the newspaper, is still operating the site with stories pulled from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record and Hamilton Spectator, as well as the twice-weekly Guelph Tribune.