Ron Marsico

Among the Star-Ledger reporters who have accepted the buyout and will be leaving the newspaper: Jeff Whelan and his wife, Kate Coscarelli; John Martin, who covered the U.S. Attorney's office and is now reporting on the Ft. Dix trials; Trenton reporters Dunstan McNicholl, Joe Donohue, Tom Hester, and Robert Schwaneberg; columnists Fran Wood and Joan Whitlow; Middlesex County reporter Diane Walsh; editorial page editor Fran Dauth; Washington, D.C. reporter Robert Cohen; and Ron Marsico, who covers the Port Authority and is likely to wind up there as a staffer.

The Star-Ledger could be sold or closed by January if the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union doesn't ratify a labor agreement by October 8, according to an internal e-mail from publisher George Arwady.  Arwady says that the contract with the union, which represents about 90 drivers, is one of three conditions Advance Publications, the owner of the Star-Ledger, has established to keep the state's largest newspaper in operation.

In July, Arwady said the Star-Ledger is on "life support" and that the paper could be sold if 200 employees don’t agree to buyouts by October 1, and if the paper doesn’t reach agreements with labor unions.  Last week, Editor & Publisher said that Arwady told reporter Ron Marsico that the paper has not yet received the 100 news staff buyouts they need.  Marsico is expected to take the buyout, and has reportedly accepted a job with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which he has covered since 1982.

Read the Arwady e-mail:

Sources say that veteran Star-Ledger reporter Ron Marsico, who has covered homeland security issues, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the redevelopment of lower Manhattan since early 2002, will accept a buyout backage from his newspaper and take a job with the Port Authority.  He is a former Star-Ledger statehouse reporter.

With an October 1 deadline looming, Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp reports that the Star-Ledger is falling short of their goal to get 100 newsroom staffers to accept buyouts -- something that could cause the Newhouse family to put the state's largest newspaper up for sale. An e-mail exchange between veteran reporter Ron Marsico and publisher George Arwady suggests that the Star-Ledger's buyout offer (one year's salary) is less than at other Newhouse newspapers across the country.  (And Strupp's second story of the day, on the Star-Ledger's possible breakup with the Associated Press, is also a must-read.)

"At this time I have no update to give you on our buyouts thus far, except to tell you that the newsroom has a long way to go to reach the goal that Jim announced," Arwady wrote to Marsico on Sunday in an e-mail that E&P says was circulated throughout the paper. "As I've said repeatedly, people should make decisions about the buyout offer based on what's right for them."