My local rag did the same thing. Don't know when they downsized (downsized = cut the size of the paper) because I never read the thing, but I was over at my parents and noticed that the Sunday paper was a shadow of its former self (and being a former paperboy for the same paper I have a really good memory of how big that paper used to be).
Funny thing about it is that the local lefty rag has twice the news in a paper half the size and they don't seem to be hurting. Probably because they out-source the printing and use independent reporters, which may be the salvation of the large dailys.
The local small-town papers here which were once independently owned and published weekly on different days with different political views ,are now all owned and published by an out-of-state family .The papers are of fewer pages,tripled in price,and all favor big government solutions to every perceived problem.Occasionally a token conservative column is published,but the overall editorials are sickening.
Now,the nearby big-city Cincinnati Enquirer announced this week it is cutting pages,paper size,combining sections,and reducing classified ad space.
I suspect the severe downturn in automotive sales is the instant cause,in that car ads seem to have made up a huge portion of the total ads.