(TheOnion.com)

Satiric news source The Onion is on the verge of killing off its last remaining print editions, Chicago Business reports. The last paper editions will be the Dec. 12 issue. Its Web site will remain, as will a "new creative service for advertisers."

At its peak, weekly print editions of the Onion were given away in 17 markets -- but it currently only distributes the tree-pulp version in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Providence, R.I. The paper was started by two University of Wisconsin students in 1988 and launched its Web site in 1996.

The Onion is not alone in leaving the physical market for the digital market: A number of straight news organizations have done the same in recent years, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Capital Times of Madison, WI.

At press time, the Washington Post continued to distribute a version of its reporting in a dead-tree format.