The Sacramento Bee and other McClatchy newspapers are making another round of job cuts. The Bee announced Monday it will cut 25 people by month's end, while McClatchy newspapers including North Carolina's News & Observer and The State in South Carolina announced additional layoffs. The total number of layoffs at the country's third largest newspaper company was not available. Reporters will not be among those cut at The Bee, although the paper will lose a photojournalist, two copy editors, two designers and two others in the newsroom, said Pam Dinsmore, the paper's community affairs director. "We've made the decision that the reporting staff — that's not a place that can go down in any

Sacramento County’s elected officials laid off 300 employees Tuesday, which brings the total number of layoffs to more than 700 since July, according to county spokesman Zeke Holst. Susan Peters, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, said at the Tuesday board meeting that the layoffs were needed in response to the ailing economy. In her comments, she foreshadowed possible upcoming layoffs to address the county’s $76 million shortfall. “I honestly don’t think that this is the last time you’ll see us back here with position reductions,” Peters said. “And we may be able to tweak a few things next week, but it’s not going to be very much, if anything,” she added. “I’m sorry the economy is

The Sacramento Press is publishing a memo from County Executive Terry Schutten on hundreds of new planned layoffs for county employees. Read Schutten's Aug. 24 memo to county employees here. The county’s latest general fund deficit figure is $54.5 million. Plus, $7.8 million will need to be cut because building activity is poor, Schutten wrote. The county is planning to cut 360 positions Sept. 27. In addition, county officials are proposing to cut 16 hours per month from the workload of county employees who are represented by unions. The cuts in work hours are proposed to start Nov. 8. Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

The City Council has changed its original plan to lay off 168 workers Friday, and now layoffs are expected to take place in about two weeks, according to acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson. The number of layoffs is in flux and may soon change depending on negotiations with five city unions. On Tuesday, the city adopted its 2009/2010 fiscal year budget and closed out a gap of more than $43 million. The budget that was approved comes with major cuts to city services. Changes to the budget will be amendments because the budget has been adopted. City officials continued to say Tuesday that many cuts and layoffs could be averted if the unions make concessions. Negotiations between

 A number of city employees received pink slips Monday that said their last day of work would be June 19. Though 168 workers received the layoff letters, city officials said the number of potential layoffs would go down if unions make concessions. The city is planning layoffs and cuts to services to address a budget deficit of more than $43 million. Sacramento began its budget planning for the 2009/2010 fiscal year with a $50 million deficit. The deficit figure dropped to $43.6 million in March after the Sacramento Police Officers Association made concessions on pay increases, said Gus Vina, an assistant city manager. The firefighters’ union, Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522, made

City management will still need to lay off staff even if all of its unions make concessions, according to the city’s finance director. Sacramento Finance Director Leyne Milstein said she could not say how many layoffs would be needed if all the unions make concessions. That’s because the City Council will make the final decisions on cuts to services and programs, Milstein said. Concessions from the unions will not create enough savings to avoid layoffs, Milstein said. The city’s proposed budget aims to resolve a $50 million deficit. If the unions do not make concessions, city management plans to lay off 189 city employees. At its May 19 meeting, the City Council will address the propo

Just one work day after union members voted to accept wage cuts and layoffs to postpone even more cuts, The Sacramento Bee started laying off some 128 employees in editorial and other departments Monday morning. Among the names of those getting pink slips today were pop music writer Rachel Leibrock and sports writer Martin McNeal, as well as general assignment reporters Ramon Coronado, Melissa Nix, Walt Yost, sports writer Scott Howard-Cooper, and photographers Brian Baer and Florence Low. And for virtually the first time since the paper started shedding positions nearly three years ago, there were editors among the casualties. Also leaving are IT wunderkind and newsroom gadfly Marco Smo

The bloodletting at the Sacramento Bee is about to get much worse. According to an email sent out to Newspaper Guild members at the paper, a meeting this morning that was supposed to wrap up current bargaining got very ugly, very quickly. After the meeting, Guild representative Wendy Mejia posted the following email (written by reporter Jim Wasserman) to Guild members, printed below in its entirety:   Sacramento Bee employees should expect a serious wave of layoffs in early March, as well as other cost-cutting measures now being considered, including wage cuts and mandatory furloughs as McClatchy Newspapers’ financial crisis worsens, company representatives told the Guild’s bargaining

Hope was in the air across the nation on January 20th as Barack Obama was being sworn in as our 44th President. Fear, anxiety, and panic was in the minds and hearts of many of those working in the Sacramento Clear Channel building that very same day. It wasn't an ordinary day for those driving to the Ethan Way broadcast facility. You see, Clear Channel, owner and operator of over 1,000 radio stations nationwide, had previously announced a massive restructuring that would cut their work force by 9%, or 1,850 employees. But who would be shown the door? Sales staff; on-air personalities; management? How about a mix of everything. Bruce Maiman, the popular host of "Sacramento's Only Local Ta