Rumors swirling in Singleton empire (* updated)

At the same time that Dean Singleton's MediaNews is said to be one of two potential buyers closing in on Copley's South Bay Daily Breeze, the Los Angeles Newspaper Group newsrooms are up in arms over reports of threatened and deep budget cuts. Top LANG executives have been at the Daily News for the past two days and are said to be in tense meetings right now with publisher Tracy Rafter and editor Ron Kaye. There are reports from Woodland Hills — unconfirmed at this point, but loud — that Rafter may be on the way out for resisting the cuts and that Kaye has told some folks he might be leaving. Sounds like a breaking situation out there; we'll stay on it.

* 4:45 pm update: Kaye emerged from a meeting with LANG chief John McKeon and told staffers he will be work at Monday as usual. No word on Rafter and what cuts may have to be made. If McKeon's name sounds familiar, he was the ad exec at the L.A. Times who pushed the Staples Center cost-sharing agreement that turned into a major ethics dustup in 1999.

Saturday update: The Times follows with a staff story that adds no new details. Rafter did not return phone calls.