Spring Street angst

The buzzword around the L.A. Times newsroom today is layoffs. The masthead rushed into meetings, an editors retreat was cancelled and terms like "draconian" and "crisis situation" are on the wind. Chicago's corporate dissatisfaction with profits and with resistance in Los Angeles to calls for deeper cost-cutting is said to be behind the push. Bad news began landing today on the business side of the paper, and the most persistent rumors are that the falling axe will hit the editorial side on Monday. If the rumor mill is correct (and the record is admittedly mixed), other Tribune Co. properties will also feel the pain.