The Lakota Journal in Rapid City, S.D., already the only Native American-owned newspaper to own its own printing plant, in May will be the first to begin commercial printing.

The Journal (weekly, 9,600), the nation’s largest independent Native American newspaper, began printing its own editions in early March, said editor-publisher Tim Giago.

The Lakota Journal bought its 10-unit King press from the Durango (Colo.) Herald last December, when that newspaper moved its printing plant to Cortez, Colo. Before purchasing the pressline, The Journal was printed by The Daily Republic in Mitchell, S.D.

A separate Native American newspaper, The Navajo Times, is printed on presses owned by the Navajo Nation, while the Journal and its presses are privately held, Giago said.

The Journal’s refurbished King press, with a capacity of 30,000 copies per hour, anchors the newspaper’s 8,000-square-foot production plant. The weekly invested $300,000 in plant and equipment, Giago said, including purchasing a new six-station Kansa inserter and an alfaQuest Technologies Panther FasTrak platesetting system.

“We should have the press making a profit in another year or so,” Giago said.

{he newspaper is produced with an editorial workflow system consisting of QuarkXPress, Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop.

The press has already enabled the newspaper to begin inserting 32-page special sections, each with 16 pages of advertising. The most recent profiled the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota, Giago said.