Grace Leong

The Deseret News is cutting a total of 34 positions including an unspecified number at its Utah County bureau, and will make several major changes to its newspaper layout and operations statewide and in Washington D.C., newspaper executives announced today.

The layoffs, which took effect today, are being made because the LDS Church-owned newspaper's revenues have fallen 32 percent since January, due largely to a sharp drop in employment ad sales in the paper's classified section.

The layoffs, which involved mostly full-time employees, consist of some attrition and some volunteers taking the paper's severance package. Those affected will receive 1 1/2 weeks pay for each year of service plus three additional weeks of pay, and job placement assistance. Further layoffs are not expected.

After the layoffs, the newspaper will have around 170 employees.

As part of the changes, the Deseret News will no longer print a separate edition for Utah Valley, but will fold coverage into a single statewide edition.

Rick Hall, the newspaper's managing editor, said the Utah County bureau in Orem will continue to operate, but with a smaller staff. Tad Walch will remain bureau chief of the Deseret News' Orem office.

"I can't say how many are left. We can't discuss numbers by specific department," he said. "Our coverage of BYU isn't going to diminish even though we're eliminating the Utah County edition. We will still be covering Utah County. We're not backing away from there."

Hall said there are no plans, as of now, to shut down the Utah County bureau even after its lease at the Bank of American Fork building is up.

Among other changes, the Deseret News has closed its longtime bureau in Washington D.C. It will rely on reporters in Salt Lake City and wire copy to cover Utah's congressional delegation and national politics.

The paper's business section, including stock pages, will be eliminated in its current format. Business news will be relocated inside the A section.

In addition, some sections of the paper will be combined or streamlined to be more efficient in the printing process. For instance, the Sunday Arts and Travel sections, for example, will be contained within the same section.

The Deseret News also will place more emphasis on beefing up its online edition and local coverage in response to demand for news and information on the Web.

"We are a 24-hour news center," Hall said. "We're thinking about online as much as we are about print."