We appreciate the tips you send us at sfpen-pressclub@sbcglobal.net, and we’ve been getting a lot of them in the past few days. The buzz is that layoffs are planned next Wednesday at Dean Singleton’s MediaNews papers in the Bay Area. Some say they’ve heard 100 jobs will be cut. Others say 10 percent of employees will be shown the door.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Group Publisher Mac Tully said in a letter to employees in November:

“Based on today’s economic outlook, it seems inevitable that we will have to have some layoffs at the beginning of the calendar year. That’s the last thing anyone wants to do, but given the economic environment that we’re operating in, I don’t see how we can avoid it. The scope of such action will depend, at least in part, on how the holiday shopping season turns out.”

Meanwhile in Southern California, the blog LA Observed reports that MediaNews has cut three journalists at the Long Beach Press-Telegram and four at the Daily Breeze.