Devlin Epding

This gets worse. On Sept. 9, management informed us they were slashing 2 or 3 newsroom jobs, among cuts to other departments. What do you cut when you’re down to bone? State Capitol coverage? A schools reporter? City Hall? Web editors? Our one and only photographer? The deadline to apply for a voluntary severance package is Monday. That’s less than a 2-week window to figure out if my career is over — there’s not a lot of safe landing spots in this industry. And if we long-timers don’t leave, expect lay-offs to follow. We’ve got a good team of dedicated newsies at a determined paper that wants to get it right. But management needs to bolster this newsroom and the communities we cover, not tie our hands and send us packing. Contract negotiations resume Wednesday at 1 West Water St. Expect sparks!

In the past two weeks, I've penned or significantly contributed to about 24 articles (bylines and taglines), averaging more than 2 stories per workday. And we're talking some whopper topics that have spanned multiple back-to-back stories I wish I'd had the time to look into even further, including: A) The Northern Iron Foundry calling it quits B) The city's closure of the Pig's Eye homeless encampment C) The St. Paul City Council attempting to block a "Right to Repair" renter measure D) The St. Paul City Council settling a defamation suit for $350,000 E) A look at 21 new businesses that opened downtown F) The county commissioner race (Isa vs. Noecker) G) The mayor's city budget address H) A sex harassment investigation involving the mayor and police I) Fringe Festival reviews Nope, I don't pretend for a moment that I tackled all of those stories (or any of those, really) alone. We've got a great team at the @PioneerPress, but it's smaller than ever, and this pace is unsustainable. Also, the pay sucks. We need more reporters, a raise and some guarantees around here... Say it with me, St. Paul. For everyone working in the @PioneerPress newsroom: "FAIR CONTRACT NOW!"