Morning Brief: Freeze warning; RIM extends BlackBerry app deadline; Lee Enterprises sells off Kauai property to Honolulu newspaper company Oahu Publications

Welcome to Chicago, where it is minus 7 degrees Fahrenheit outside my door this morning (that's minus 21 Celsius for many TNM readers). If you ask me that is a ridiculous temperature.

There were no app updates in my iTunes account this morning, a reflection of the fact that yesterday was a holiday for many here in the U.S. Expect updates and new mobile and tablet apps to appear later in the morning as the review teams begin to release them into the various stores.

The BlackBerry Developer Blog yesterday announced that the company had received over 19,000 applications over the past weekend for apps designed from Blackberry World. RIM is conducting a promotion, the 10k Developer Commitment, to try and lure apps to the platform where it the app submitted earns over $1,000 in sales RIM will play the developer the difference between their actual sales and $10,000 – essentially guaranteeing the developer $10k in sales.

Because of the positive response, RIM will be extending the deadline for the promotion through 8pm EST today. (The BlackBerry World Vendor Portal deadline is 8pm ET February 18th.) Qualifying sales will occur between March 4 of this year through March 3 of 2014.

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Lee Enterprises sold off The Garden Island newspaper to Oahu Publications, Inc. (OPI) late yesterday Hawaii time. The newspaper is located on the island of Kauai.

"In 1902, Kauai Publishing Company began printing The Garden Island, one of Hawaii’s most historic and enduring newspapers,” said Dennis Francis, OPI president and publisher of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “We want this newspaper to continue building its journalistic legacy and serving the people of Kauai. We feel strongly that Kauai residents need their own in-depth, locally-produced daily news."

As a result of the purchase, The Garden Island will now be printed in Honolulu and flown in each morning. OPI already flies in copies of the Honolulu paper each morning.

The announcement is already generating comments online from readers: "Good riddance to Lee Enterprises, but my heart goes out to all the pressmen and others who are losing their jobs," said on commenter. "Hopefully Hawaii-based ownership will be good for readers, but it would be nice if it were good for employees, as well."