Really?  I'm skeptical, but if that's true, I view it as wonderful news.
AOL is the single worst thing that ever happened to Usenet and I will be
very glad to see them go.

Anyway, now that you've gotten my hopes up, there are dozens of independent
news services that provide excellent service at very low rates.  Giganews,
Supernews, Newsguy, Teranews.... the choices are endless.  Personally, I
like Giganews and Supernews, but I haven't tried them all by any means.