MediaNews has been widely expected to eliminate a number of jobs at its papers in Northern California in the next few days, and the cuts began yesterday.

Ron Rhea, Vallejo Times-Herald publisher since 1997, and Wolf Rosenberg, publisher of the Chico Enterprise Record for nearly 10 years, left the company on Thursday. Gregg McConnell, the publisher of newspapers in Vacaville and Woodland, will become publisher in Chico, Oroville and Vallejo.

UPDATE, 5 P.M. FRIDAY: The AP says Steve Rossi, CEO of the California Newspapers Partnership, a subsidiary of MediaNews, would not specify if Rosenberg and Rhea were fired, laid off or chose to leave.

Each paper printed an upbeat story Friday describing the changes. For instance, the Chico paper said McConnell was excited about the opportunity to work in Chico. “It’s a great community and a great newspaper.” Here’s the Vallejo Times-Herald story and the Woodland Daily Democrat piece.

MediaNews is expected to make more cuts in the Bay Area within days. If you have any information about them, please e-mail us at sfpen-pressclub@sbcglobal.net. As always, we won’t publish your name or other identifying information unless you specifically say it’s OK.