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There comes a time, it seems, when even parodies must face reality. And for The Onion, that time will come in December, when the satirical news source will stop publishing print editions and shift to being all-digital.

That's the news from Milwaukee Public Radio, which calls today "a sad day for the sarcastic among us."

In addition to Milwaukee, The Onion "will also stop publishing print editions for its other remaining markets, Chicago and Providence, R.I.," WUWM's Stephanie Lecci writes. She adds, "The Onion once printed in 17 markets, according to the Business Journal of Milwaukee."

The final print issues of The Onion will be distributed on Dec. 12, marking the end of an era for the fake news organization that in 1988 began life as a newspaper in Madison, Wis.

As NPR reported in August, the company celebrated its 25th anniversary this year.

In an interview marking that occasion, Onion Inc. President Mike McAvoy told Morning Edition host Renee Montagne that "while print has taken a turn and that's no longer a profitable business for us, the rest of the company has thrived."

On its Facebook page today, The Onion posted an "In Focus" link, taking readers to a story from July with the title "Print Dead At 1,803."

The story reads:

"The influential means of communication was 1,803.

"Print, which had for nearly two millennia worked tirelessly to spread knowledge around the globe in the form of books, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and numerous other textual materials, reportedly succumbed to its long battle with ill health, leaving behind legions of readers who had for years benefited from the dissemination of ideas made possible by the advent of printed materials."

This post was updated at 8:40 a.m. ET

The U.S. economy grew at a better-than-expected 2.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday morning.

That's a bit faster than the 2.5 percent pace of the second quarter. According to the BEA, consumer spending, inventory investment and exports helped fuel slightly stronger growth.

As we wrote earlier, economists had been expecting to hear that gross domestic product growth slowed from July 1 through Sept. 30, to a 2 percent annual rate. Their prediction may still turn out to be correct: The GDP data will be revised twice; one time each in the next two months.

Also Thursday morning, the Employment and Training Administration said that 336,000 people filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week. That was down 9,000 from the week before.

Our original post — Coming Up: First Look At How Economy Fared In Third Quarter:

We'll likely hear this hour that the U.S. economy slowed in the third quarter, with gross domestic product growth at a 2 percent annual rate versus the previous quarter's 2.5 percent, forecasters tell Reuters.

If that is what Bureau of Economic Analysis says when it releases its latest data at 8:30 a.m. ET, it will be confirmation that even before the 16-day partial government shutdown in October, the economy was cooling.

News of slower growth before the shutdown would also support the view of many experts that "it's difficult to see the economy taking off in the near term," Standard Chartered Bank economist Thomas Costerg says in Reuters' report.

This morning's report will be the first of three in coming months about the third quarter. As happened with the second-quarter data, initial estimates are often revised. The bureau initially said growth in the second quarter registered at just a 1.7 percent annual rate. As more data came in, it raised the estimate to that 2.5 percent annual rate.

Also due at 8:30 a.m. ET: The latest data on weekly claims for jobless benefits.

6 p.m. ET: Twitter Shares Close At $44.90

At the end of its first day of public trading, shares of Twitter were valued at $44.90, reflecting a market value of more than $31 billion. The company sold 70 million shares of stock, raising $1.82 billion in the process.

Earlier Thursday, the company's shares soared from their initial public offering price of $26.

2:35 p.m. ET:

As you can see if you click on the player below, Twitter's stock has been trading around $47 a share in recent minutes.

Twitter's stock

Click the 'today' tab in the box below and data on Twitter's stock price should flow in.