The dispute at the Detroit News intensified.

The paper’s owner, Evening News Assn., retained the services of Salomon Bros., a New York investment firm, in apparent reaction to dissent by members of the controlling Scripps family who want to liquidate the company. Evening News Assn., which owns media properties in seven states and in Washington, D.C., said it retained Salomon Bros. in order to be in a position to acquire more newspapers or radio stations so that it might move toward an eventual public offering of the company stock or so it could counter the dissenters’ plans for liquidation.