Jim Hopkins, who follows the company at GannettBlog, is reporting that two sources have confirmed the company’s principal executive and chief financial officer has ordered across-the-board layoffs. The layoffs are expected to take place July 8 and total 4,500 jobs in the company’s newspaper division.

Sources inside The Register’s newsroom confirmed the rumors have made there way to employees at the paper, but said management has not made any formal announcements regarding job cuts.

The headquarters of The Des Moines Register in downtown Des Moines.

Last August, Gannett eliminated 1,000 jobs, including 600 layoffs, at its 85 local papers across the country. At that time, The Register eliminated 12 full-time and three part-time positions, and announced 11 vacant positions would go unfilled.

Another round of layoffs followed in December, this time totaling nearly 3,000 employees company wide. In Iowa, The Register eliminated 56 jobs and Gannett’s other Iowa papers — the Iowa City Press-Citizen, the Indianola Record-Herald and the Altoona Herald – eliminated 25 jobs.

All told, Gannett eliminated more than 100 newsroom positions in Iowa during 2008.

Since the layoffs, the company has instituted two rounds of weeklong furloughs in hopes of staving off another round of job cuts. However, in an interview with the Iowa Independent in December, Register Publisher Laura Hollingsworth said she could not guarantee that the layoffs were over in 2009.

Hollingsworth and Susan Patterson Plank, the paper’s vice president of marketing and digital development, could not be reached for comment.

Marengo Publishing Corp. and Poweshiek Publishing, companies under Gannett’s large umbrella, have published three weekly advertisers, seven weekly newspapers and a monthly magazine for several years. The seven newspapers — Belle Plaine Union, Brooklyn Chronicle, Marengo Pioneer-Republican, Montezuma Republican, North English Record, South Benton Star-Press and Williamsburg Journal-Tribune — will be consolidated or shuttered.

“Everyone should be aware of our nation’s economic crisis and the recession we are experiencing,” wrote Dan DeBettingnies, MPC publisher. “Here in Iowa we are often insulated from much of the pain economic changes bring to the rest of the country. That’s a thing of the past. Today we are being affected directly.”

Today, Dec. 31, is the final publication date for both the Brooklyn Chronicle and the Montezuma Republican. The two papers will merge into a county-wide publication, the Poweshiek County CR (Chronicle-Republican). Offices in Brooklyn have already closed and offices in Montezuma are expected to close at the end of January. In addition to the two newspapers, a smaller news effort sent with the Pennysaver advertiser to Grinnell addresses ceased publication on Dec. 29.

The final issue of the The North English Record, which has published since 1891, will be on Jan. 1. After that date it will be repackaged with The Williamsburg Journal-Tribune. News from North English will have a page within the existing Williamsburg paper.

On Jan. 7, 2009 The Belle Plaine Union, a paper which began in 1866, and The South Benton Star-Press, a merger of three smaller newspapers in 1967, will merge into one publication, The Star Press Union, which will aim to serve the residents of southern Benton County. The company plans to keep offices in Belle Plaine.

Gannett announced a 10 percent staff reduction in late October. On Dec. 1 The Des Moines Register, which is owned by Gannett, announced a 6.9 percent reduction in its workforce.

“We will have to say goodbye to our friends and co-workers, who have worked hard and loyally, who helped us create the best product possible. Keep them in your prayers,” editors NIck Narigon, Dann Hayes and Jim Magdefrau wrote in a joint announcement.

Excluding the impairment charges, earnings per share were 28 cents, compared with 49 cents a year ago.

“Because we cannot foresee the length of the economic downturn, we are focusing on rigorous cost reductions through staff reorganizations, narrower page widths, newsprint conservation programs and other efficiencies, as well as reduced capital spending,” said Mary Junck, chairman and chief executive officer of Lee Enterprises. “In our fiscal year that begins this fall, assuming no new surprises in newsprint prices, we are aiming for a further reduction in cash costs of 5 to 7 percent.”

Last week Gannett Company Inc., publisher of The Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press-Citizen, reported a 20 percent drop in second-quarter earnings. The company said it earned $233 million, or $1.02 per share, compared with $290 million, or $1.24 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Gannett revenues fell 10 percent to $1.72 billion in the quarter.

In October — Domestic Violence Awareness Month — newspapers throughout the state will run public service announcements, each featuring an Iowan who is a survivor of domestic violence.

“We are currently seeking survivors who are open to telling their story,” said Sarabeth Anderson, director of development at ICADV. “Kate [Iola] has volunteered to work with those who come forward to help develop 31 unique stories, one for each day of the month.”

Iola, a business and agriculture writer for Successful Farming magazine, Agriculture Online and the Sioux City Journal, has a master’s degree in molecular pathology and three issue patents. A resident of rural Iowa, she began reporting on foot-and-mouth disease in 1999. A year later, she took the initiative to write a work of fiction centering on the bizarre and true story of that threat. Since publication of her novel, Iola has become someone who regularly and loudly sounds the alarm of agro-terrorism.

The successes have been sweet, but the sour is also a part of her life experience and what drew her to the coalition and this project.

Iola is a domestic violence survivor. She approached the agency in January, asking how she could best volunteer. As a result of that initial contact naming rights for a character in her upcoming novel were placed on the block at an auction in April with all proceeds benefiting ICADV. Although the auction as a whole raised more than $30,000 for the agency, Iola wanted to do more.

“I want to give back,” Iola said in a phone interview. “It wasn’t that long ago that I was provided tremendous support and guidance at a local women’s shelter. It’s important to me to not only return the favor but to help the coalition raise awareness. Many people you meet have been in these types of situations, and I don’t think the public really understands how complex and difficult these types of relationships are to end.”

As a part of the project, Iola will tell her own story. Organizers are hopeful she will be one of many people who come forward.

“There is a misconception that domestic violence happens only to women of a certain educational or socio-economic level,” said Anderson. “We hope this project will have a diverse cross-section of survivors — different backgrounds, races, ages, occupations and economic status. When the series is complete we want Iowans to know that domestic violence isn’t something that just happens to other people.”

In 2005, roughly 24,000 victims of domestic violence were served by ICADV. The agency provided over 100,000 nights in a shelter and fielded over 77,000 calls to a statewide hotline in 2006. There have been 154 Iowans have been killed in domestic abuse murders since 1995.

The coalition, which has an overall goal to end violence in intimate relationships, provides assistance and education to programs that serve battered women and their children, Anderson says.

In addition to the newspaper public service announcements, residents in Des Moines will soon see banners as a part of the awareness campaign. The banners feature stock images of women with occupations below them. “I’m a survivor. I’m your…” appears across the top. The agency logo sits at the bottom.

“We want people to know that anyone can be a victim and a survivor of domestic violence,” Anderson said. “Since 30 percent of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend, chances are there are people in your life right now who are survivors of domestic violence.”

At the end of October the completed stories will be combined into a book, proceeds benefiting ICADV. Survivors of domestic violence who would like to tell their story should contact Anderson, (515) 244-8028.