39 laid off from the Post-Dispatch

It’s never a good day when I have to update the newspaper layoff blog; it’s even worse when friends are affected.

On Thursday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, my employer, laid off 39 people, 14 of them from the newsroom:
• Amy Verkamp-McArthy, copy editor
• Ted Rodgers, copy editor
• Sharon Fuller, copy editor
• Mike Florio, copy editor
• Lisa Godoski, Web producer
• Neil Joellenbeck, Web producer
• Kimberly Ratliff, Web producer
• Susan Luberda, features assistant
• Dennis Sweeso, photo assistant
• Eric Mink, commentary page editor
• Annette Reaving, assistant to the editorial page editor
• Cameron Hollway, assistant sports editor
• Tim Poor, assistant metro editor
• Sandy Wood, assistant metro editor

Layoffs started around 4 p.m. Some of these people were close to finishing their 8-hour shift when they found out they were being laid off.

In September, 20 employees — 17 from the newsroom — were laid off.

In August, 18 employees — 5 from the newsroom — were laid off.

In March, 31 employees were laid off.

In less than a year, that’s 108 people.