ASBURY PARK, N.J. (AP) - The Asbury Park Press has named Hollis Towns as its new executive editor and vice president for news.

Towns has been executive editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer since 2004.

Both papers are owned by Gannett Co.

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Towns, 44, said he'll make local news and investigative stories his priorities at the Press, which is New Jersey's third-largest paper. He said he will also focus on the newspaper's Web site.

``I want to continue the proud tradition the Asbury Park Press has had,'' he told the Press for Wednesday's newspapers.

He will succeed William ``Skip'' Hidlay, who is now publisher of the Gannett-owned Home News Tribune of East Brunswick and Courier-News of Bridgewater.

Tom Callinan, the editor and vice president of the Enquirer, said Towns has made the Cincinnati paper better in his time there.

Towns, a native of Fort Valley, Ga., and a graduate of what is now Fort Valley State University, has also worked as a reporter and bureau chief at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and as managing editor at the Kalamazoo Gazette in Michigan.

Towns served as a juror for the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes and is in line to be national president of the Associated Press Managing Editors organization in 2011.

His first official day at the New Jersey paper will be Oct. 13.

09/17/08 13:32 © Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.