Sources inside The Des Moines Register have confirmed, and the local business journal has reported, that farm editor Jerry Perkins and features writer Ken Fuson have asked for and received buyouts, becoming the first of what will be 15 jobs to be eliminated today from within the paper’s newsroom.

Sources have also confirmed that Jane Norman, a member of the paper’s Washington, D.C., bureau for 20 years, has been laid off and will receive a severance package.

The Des Moines Business Record is reporting that Editor Carolyn Washburn and Managing Editor Randy Brubaker, in a memo to the newsroom, said Perkins’ last day will be Aug. 29 and Fuson’s last day will be Sept. 5.

Perkins started with the Des Moines Tribune in 1978 and has been the Register’s farm editor since 1993. Fuson has been with the Register for 25 years and has won several awards, including the Register’s top writing award and Gannett Co. Inc.’s 25th anniversary Outstanding Achievement Award for Writing.