Layoffs and Downsizing

PEER Frets Over DEP Layoffs, Says More Cuts Likely

A recent round of job cuts at the Department of Environmental Protection has stoked the wrath of environmentalists. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility on Wednesday issued a statement blasting the DEP's decision to lay off 26 employees from the agency's Southwest District Office w ... More >>

Bankrupt Twinkie Manufacturer Warns of Hundreds of Florida Layoffs

Hostess Brands, the makers of Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Ding Dongs that declared bankruptcy in January, has filed paperwork with the state warning of at least 479 potential layoffs all over the state.And it's not just a Florida thing -- reports of layoff warnings are coming out all over the country ... More >>

Florida Back to Second Place Nationwide for the Most Mass Layoffs

yankeesdaily.com​After a pretty good September for not getting laid off in Florida -- only the fourth-most mass layoffs in the nation for that month -- the state is back to its usual position of second-most for October.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida accounted for 91 of the na ... More >>

Florida Employers Registered 69 Mass Layoffs in September, the Fourth-Most Nationwide

hammerle.com​After two straight months of having the second-most mass-layoff events in the country, Florida companies experienced 69 in September, dropping the Sunshine State to just the fourth-most among the 50 states.According to the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida accounted ... More >>

Florida Employers Laid Off 1,638 Workers in September, According to Report

​September's numbers on employment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics aren't due until Friday, but a private report says 1,638 Floridians were laid off last month.The consultants at Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. released their findings this morning, reporting that more than 115,000 Americ ... More >>

Florida Is Home to the Second-Most Mass Layoffs in the Nation -- Again

stevewhibley.blogspot.com​For the second month in a row, Florida had more mass layoffs than every other state but California, according to statistics released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.According to the numbers from the BLS, Florida accounted for 78 of the nation's 961 mass layoffs in ... More >>

Broward County Unemployment Increases Above National Rate

galvestonmusicscene.com​The unemployment rate in Florida didn't change -- still at 10.6 percent for June -- but Broward County, among others in South Florida, posted growing unemployment rates.Broward County passed the national unemployment rate of 9.2 percent, increasing from 9 percent in May to ... More >>

Broward Teachers Union Protesting Tonight Over 1,400 Teacher Firings, Budget Spending

​The K.C. Wright Building in downtown Fort Lauderdale will play home to a lot of angry teachers tonight.Broward Teachers Union communications director John Ristow tells New Times that tonight's protest -- geared toward teacher layoffs and alleged budget mismanagement by the Broward School Board -- ... More >>

Foreclosure Firm Ben-Ezra & Katz Is Latest Addition to Attorney General's Investigation

via floridaforeclosurehelp.netThe state foreclosure fraud investigation expands.​Fort Lauderdale law firm Ben-Ezra & Katz is the most recent subject of the state attorney general's mortgage fraud investigation. The firm "appears to be fabricating and/or presenting false and misleading document ... More >>

DJSP, Processing Company for Foreclosure Attorney David J. Stern, Lays Off 96 Employees

David J. Stern, whose law firm is under investigation for foreclosure fraud.​The latest round of layoffs at DJSP Enterprises, the foreclosure processing company for the law offices of David J. Stern, could add fuel to a class action case against DJSP and Stern, according to a lawyer for the compan ... More >>

Employee Turned Plaintiff Discusses David J. Stern's Layoffs and "You're Fired" Letters (Posted Here)

Nikki Mack on CBS4.​Nikki Mack is a former office assistant at DJSP Enterprises, David J. Stern's company, which is under investigation by the Florida attorney general for allegedly fraudulent foreclosure documentation. Mack lost her job -- and benefits -- in late October and after a period withou ... More >>

David J. Stern, Foreclosure-Processing Lawyer, Sued by Former Employees

​It seems David J. Stern's allegedly fraudulent 'foreclosure-mill' business practices may have extended to the way he laid off his employees. He "effectively put over 800 people out of work right before the holidays with no notice," Attorney Chandra Doucette, one of the lawyers representing the fo ... More >>

Quiet Exit for Former Palm Beach Post Editor

JBart leaves two years after the layoffs began.​Two years ago, Editor John Bartosek stood before his employees at the Palm Beach Post and warned of the impending bloodbath of layoffs and buyouts. Now, after slashing more than 300 jobs at the paper, Bartosek is leaving too."JBart," as he is known i ... More >>

Is This What Rock Bottom Looks Like?

Graph: CalculatedRiskblog.com​Let me try to put a positive spin on a super-depressing graph. From the blog Calculated Risk, the graph above shows the high and low unemployment rates from each state since 1976, along with a red line for the current jobless rate. Yes, we're living in the most depres ... More >>

Palm Beach Post Ad Highlights Plight of its Own Axed Employees

​In its bizarre, ongoing effort to depress people into buying the daily newspaper, the Palm Beach Post has been running a series of ads about the economy.One ad highlighted job anxiety, unintentionally drawing attention to the more than 300 jobs lost at the Post in the past couple of years.The lat ... More >>

The Palm Beach Post's Revenue Caper

In these bleak days for the newspaper industry, it's rare to find a sliver of encouraging news. At South Florida's dailies, more than 1,000 people have lost their jobs in the past few years, and more layoffs seem to be announced every few months.Chuck "Revenue Man" Girardi​So one can hardly blame ... More >>

La Palma Lays Off Three People, Leaving Skeleton Staff

​La Palma, the weekly Spanish-language spinoff of the Palm Beach Post, quietly laid off three people yesterday, leaving a skeleton staff at the paper.Insiders say the three employees -- page designer Sergio Patrucco, copyeditor Claudia Moscoso, and reporter/copyeditor Jonathan Muñoz -- were calle ... More >>

Miami Herald Cuts 24 Jobs; Publisher Says "Conditions Remain Challenging"

South Florida's fish wrappers: endangered species.​The Miami Herald is cutting 24 jobs throughout the company and reducing the hours of workers involved in printing and delivering the paper, Publisher David Landsberg announced in an email this morning.Seven people will lose their jobs in the Heral ... More >>

The Rise and Fall of South Florida's Daily Newspapers

Ex- Post Staffers Discuss Life After the Fish Wrapper

This week's New Times cover story details the human cost of the massive layoffs that have hit South Florida's three major daily papers in the past couple of years. According to estimates by New Times media critic Bob Norman, roughly 1,000 jobs have been lost at the Palm Beach Post, Sun-Sentinel, a ... More >>

On the Bread Line at the Norton: A Journalist's Story

Photo by Christopher KubrickIs this line ever gonna move?​The Art After Dark event at the Norton Museum of Art last night had many highlights: free chocolate martinis, a tour of the New York, New York: The 20th Century exhibit, lovely guitar strumming by Miami troubadour Jesse Jackson.But perhaps ... More >>

Job Anxiety? You Must Work at the Palm Beach Post

Photo by Lisa RabYes, Post employees are very anxious.​Someone in the Palm Beach Post marketing department has a cruel sense of irony. The paper's latest ad campaign -- now popping up in the paper, online, and on billboards around town -- strikes very close to home for Post staffers."Anxious About ... More >>

Cheers to the New Bulldog Blog in Town

Flickr user: sabianmaggyThere's a new bulldog in town.​After 30 years in the South Florida news business, Dan Christensen isn't about to let one small layoff stop him from mining the bottomless pit of Broward County corruption.The veteran Daily Business Review and Miami Herald reporter has launche ... More >>

Dodgeball: City Manager Takes Heat at Pembroke Pines Budget Hearing

Flickr user: Patrick Henry McGinleyDodge this, Charlie!​Many people who packed the Pembroke Pines City Commission chambers for a budget hearing last night were angry at political leaders they believed had failed them. Despite laying off 84 employees and outsourcing major city services, the city st ... More >>

As Layoffs Loom, Broward Librarians Turn on One Another

Flickr: circulatingLayoffs make it hard to hold your tongue, even for otherwise mousy librarians.​Broward County Library staff is bracing for a round of layoffs next month, and in the meantime anxiety and suspicion is spreading through the ranks. Who among them deserves to be spared? And who deser ... More >>

The Sentinel And The Damage Done

Names are starting to stream in from the lastest layoffs at the Sun-Sentinel. As always, I'm going to compile them as they come in. This has caused a small bit of controversy in the past, but it's done in the name of honoring those who are leaving and informing the public of exactly what it's losing ... More >>

CBS-4 Layoffs

Two sources have mentioned layoffs at CBS-4. One said 20 people have lost their jobs, including the director of communications.  No time to report.

Sentinel Gears Up for Next Round of Layoffs

It's tense times at the Sun-Sentinel. A commenter posted below that the next round of layoffs at there will be announced May 19. I hit up a newspaper source who told me Sentinel editor Earl Maucker told the staff there are going to be 30 layoffs in the newsroom (after comments below, I'm going to l ... More >>

UPDATED: Sun-Sentinel Lays Off Unknown Number; Herald Staff Cuts Imminent

The Sun-Sentinel laid off numerous employees on Wednesday -- unfortunately nobody seems to know the exact numbers since the newspaper has kept it under a tight lid. Sources have put the number at anywhere from 25 to 85 people who lost their jobs in the operations, sales, and advertising d ... More >>

Pain Coming To Herald Sentinel; Say No To Pudge

-- A couple weeks ago I shared a memo from Miami Herald publisher David Landsberg in which he announced that another round of layoffs was soon coming to the newspaper. He wasn't specific, but said the paper would try to limit the pain. Well, news from a Herald sister paper at McClatchy indicates the ... More >>

Best Of Readers' Poll 2009: Best Journalist

History has proven it time and again: The pen is mightier than the sword, the gun, the mayor's dais, and even Satan himself. In a year when hundreds of local journalists lost their jobs, those who survived the newsroom slaughter found twice as much work on their plates. Now's the chance to give it u ... More >>

Miami Herald Publisher: More Layoffs Coming To Newspaper

Miami Herald Publisher David Landsberg informed all Herald employees this morning in an e-mail that newspaper would be laying off more employees in the coming weeks. "Unfortunately, it is already apparent there is no way to avoid the elimination of staff positions. We are exploring several alt ... More >>

Tribune Lawyer: More Layoffs Coming To Newspapers

Well, I posted my thoughts on it Saturday and today we get confirmation: More layoffs coming to Tribune. From today's AP article: [Tribune attorney Kevin] Lantry said the company anticipates "a number of layoffs" this year, but he did not provide a figure, or details on how much money the sev ... More >>

Are More Layoffs, Cutbacks Coming To Sun-Sentinel?

I've been so busy juggling about six hellacious stories that I've been neglecting the roots of this blog -- coverage of the local media. I think another reason is that it's just too damn depressing and it seems like Groundhog Day. More corporate idiocy and more layoffs all the time.  . Re ... More >>

Another Newspaper Falls Into Bankruptcy

The Minneapolis Star Tribune followed the Tribune Co. and went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. Remember, Miami Herald parent McClatchy, in the only good move it has made in several years, sold the Strib, as it is called, for $530 million back in 2006. The newspaper's story includes some inter ... More >>

The Fourth Estate Sale

Decimated by corporate overlords, the only hope for our local newspapers may be the auction block.

Source: Sentinel Shutting Down Delray Beach Office

A source at the Sun-Sentinel tells me that the newspaper's Palm Beach County office in Delray Beach is closing up this week. The bureau, which had 27 people last year but has surely shrunk a bit during recent staff cuts, is moving down to the newspaper's existing Deerfield Beach office. [ADDED] Mos ... More >>

Another Newspaper Mini-Merger

Bygone Bylines: The Miami Herald Story

Life After Print

D-Day At The Sun-Sentinel -- UPDATED

E&P Calls Out Sun-Sentinel

News-Press Lays Off 36

Latest On PB Post Layoffs

A Bloggy Summer

Palm Beach Post To Cut 300 Jobs

Today's Pulp Files

Massive Job Cuts Coming At Sun-Sentinel, Tally Chief Volunteers

D-Day At Miami Herald

A Million-Dollar Blunder

That would be Fort Lauderdale's decision to tear down Frank Ptito's house -- and guess who's paying?