BRIEFS.

* Dow family continues control: The family that controls the voting shares of Dow Jones & Co. won shareholder approval on Wednesday for a bylaws change that will allow members to sell some of their shares in the company yet continue to retain control. The Bancroft family, which has 62-percent control in Dow through "super-voting" shares, would be allowed to sell about half those shares and remain in charge. The change was part of a package that also included fixing the size of the company's board of directors at 16 and mandating that the majority of board members remain independent of the family or management.

* S&P cuts JRC, reviews KRI: The credit-rating agency Standard & Poors said last week that it was downgrading the credit of Journal Register Co. and was reviewing the credit of Knight Ridder. Both publishers earlier in the month had announced they would be funding new stock buy-back initiatives. S&P downgraded JRC's credit rating to BB, two levels below investment grade and said it was considering reducing KRI's long-term credit rating of A and its short-term rating of A-1 by one notch. The rating firm would have preferred the publishers pay down debt rather than buy shares.

* Tribune to start retiree magazine: Satisfaction, a regional magazine aimed at Baby Boomers aged 55 to 64 who are about to "transition" to a "new stage of life" -- retirement -- has been announced by two units of Tribune Co. The Chicago-based magazine, which will be distributed six times a year with a controlled circulation of 60,000, will be published by Chicagoland Publishing Co. and Tribune Media Services. "The range of topics to be covered by Satisfaction include money, travel, real estate, fitness, careers, family and relationships, community involvement and consumer indulgences," the company said.