Chicago
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: March 17, 2011

At least six writers were laid off the day after Sun-Times Media Chairman Jim Tyree died. “It certainly had nothing to do with yesterday’s news,” CEO Jeremy Halbreich told the Chicago Tribune. “It’s the continuation of our implementing our system and finding additional efficiencies in terms of being able to do things centrally rather than spread out in eight different directions.”

Do you know of additional layoffs? Leave a comment or e-mail me at newspaperlayoffs@gmail.com.
Sources: Time Out Chicago via Media Jobs Daily, and Time Out Chicago

Springfield, Ill.
Owner: GateHouse Media Inc.
Effective: March 1, 2011

Printing was outsourced to the Journal Star in Peoria, Ill.; 58 employees were laid off.
Source: The State Journal-Register via Paper Cuts tip

Update: Thirty full-time and 28 part-time pressroom and mailroom employees were laid off. “The technology in Peoria is newer, much faster and more efficient,” Publisher Walt T. Lafferty said in a State Journal-Register article. “We can print 20,000 copies an hour here. They can do 60,000 an hour there.” Although the equipment may be faster, news deadlines were moved 30 minutes earlier; more time is needed to get the papers from Peoria to distribution points in Springfield. (06.24.11)
Source: The State Journal-Register via Paper Cuts tip

Batavia, Bolingbrook, Downers Grove, Geneva, Glen Ellyn, Homer Glen, Lisle, Wheaton, Fox Valley and Lincoln-Way, Ill.
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: Dec. 31, 2010

Eleven free weekly papers will close by the end of the year. “It’s the byproduct of our evaluating the market coverage,and the positioning and profitability of those products,” Sun-Times Media CEO Jeremy Halbreich said in a Chicago Tribune story. Sun-Times Media refuses to disclose how many employees will be laid off, or have previously been laid off at its papers.

Do you know additional details? Leave a comment or e-mail me at newspaperlayoffs@gmail.com.
Source: Chicago Tribune

Joliet, Ill.
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: Nov. 5, 2010

Two sportswriters were laid off, part of Sun-Times Media’s effort to consolidate departments.
Source: Paper Cuts tip

Chicago
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: Nov. 5, 2010

Fifty drivers and three of the paper’s four district managers in the circulation department were laid off; the fourth was reassigned. The Sun-Times outsourced retail and box delivery to the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 18; the Tribune had previously taken on home delivery of the Sun-Times.

Two sportswriters also were laid off at Sun-Times Media’s Doings papers.
Source: Chicago Reader

Glenview, Ill.
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: Nov. 5, 2010

Five sportswriters were laid off, part of a consolidation effort by Sun-Times Media. Do you know of additional layoffs? Leave a comment or e-mail me at newspaperlayoffs@gmail.com.
Source: Chicago Reader

Heyworth, Farmer City and LeRoy, Ill.
Owner: Lee Enterprises
Effective: Oct. 27, 2010

The three biweekly weekly papers have closed; company officials said they were no longer profitable. “It came down to the financial sustainability of the products and we felt we could more effectively serve our readers in those three communities with The Pantagraph,” said Barry Winterland, general manager of Pantagraph Publishing Co., which is owned by Lee Enterprises. The Pantagraph is in Bloomington, Ill. It is unknown how many employees were laid off.
Source: The Pantagraph

Correction: The Heyworth Star, Farmer City Journal and LeRoy Journal were weekly papers, not biweekly as originally stated. (11.07.10)

Update: Per a comment below, at least four employees were laid off: the Heyworth Star and LeRoy Journal editors and two Farmer City Journal employees. (11.07.10)

Joliet, Ill.
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: Nov. 1, 2010

A reporter was laid off; she found out she would be laid off when a letter from her insurance company stated her benefits would end Nov. 1
Source: Chicago Reader via Paper Cuts tip

Chicago
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: Oct. 29, 2010

Days after announcing layoffs at Sun-Times Media newspapers, spokeswoman Tammy Chase was laid off. At least four editorial employees were laid off earlier in October; Sun-Times officials refuse to say how many. “That’s a number I’m not prepared to share,” Sun-Times chief executive Jeremy Halbreich told the Chicago Tribune. “A lot of that is, by virtue of being a private company, we don’t feel the need to be publicizing those things. … Any time you do this kind of stuff, you always do it as invisible to the consumer as possible.”

Do you know of additional layoffs? Leave a comment or e-mail me at newspaperlayoffs@gmail.com.
Source: Chicago Reader and Chicago Tribune

Naperville, Ill.
Owner: Sun-Times Media Group
Effective: Oct. 27, 2010

At least one reporter was laid off. Do you know of other layoffs? Leave a comment or e-mail me at newspaperlayoffs@gmail.com.
Source: Paper Cuts tips

Update: A sports editor also was laid off. (07.16.11)
Source: Paper Cuts tip