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One of the most notable developments since co-owners Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz purchased Freedom Communications and the Orange County Register in July 2012 occurred yesterday, when Kushner announced the company will expand into Los Angeles County next year and begin publishing the Los Angeles Register, a new daily newspaper serving all of Los Angeles County.

The launch date has not been announced yet, but the newspaper will be a locally-focused, community-building newspaper.

The Los Angeles Register is the latest in a flurry of expansion initiatives since Kushner and Spitz took ownership 17 months ago.

They have added 440 new workers, including 200 in the newsroom. Content in the Register newspaper has increased by 71 percent, in large part due to the rollout of more than 20 standalone sections on topics such as business, entertainment, the arts and high school sports.

Between November 2012 and March 2013, the Register expanded its 27 community newspapers serving Orange County cities to a full-size broadsheet format and completely redesigned the editions to include coverage of businesses, schools and interesting people.

In April, the Register debuted a membership program for its seven-day subscribers called Register Connect that includes entertainment benefits such as tickets to the Los Angeles Angels, movie screenings, Aquarium of the Pacific, theatre and VIP dining experiences.

A Washington, D.C. bureau also debuted in April, as did a weekly rotation of glossy magazines distributed with the Register on Mondays from an acquisition of OC-based media company Churm Media in Dec. 2012.

In August, Kushner and Spitz launched the Long Beach Register, the company’s first entry outside Orange County, as a Monday through Friday newspaper – and expanded the paper to include Sunday distribution on Nov. 24.

In November, Kushner and Spitz’s holding company Freedom Communications officially acquired the The Press-Enterprise serving Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the Inland Southern California region.