The Omaha World-Herald cut two business reporters and the designer of its business section on Tuesday as part of widespread cuts across all Berkshire Hathaway newspapers.
In addition, the paper has cut its standalone business section to just two days, Saturday and Sunday. The Omaha business news section won a SABEW Best in Business Award in 2015 in the midsize newspaper group.
Before the layoffs, the World-Herald had a business news staff of nine, which is unusual for a paper its size.
The reporters who lost their jobs were:
- Russell Hubbard covered finance and markets, the ethanol industry and transportation, including Omaha-based Union Pacific and Berkshire Hathaway-owned BNSF. Hubbard previously worked for The Birmingham News and for Bloomberg News.
- Cole Epley covered utilities and energy and also banking. He is a native of Walnut, Iowa, and graduated from the University of Memphis in 2011. He previously wrote for the Memphis Business Journal.
The cuts to the standalone business news section begin next week.
