The Sun-Times is reporting that 90 more journalists will lose their jobs soon at the Chicago Tribune.

There is a new backdrop besides the company’s crushing debt and the recession, however. Now the ESOP deal that allowed Sam Zell to take Tribune private is being questioned by the Department of Labor. 

Not to be a flag-waver or anything, but why should Zell’s, shall we say, sharp practice allow him to avoid tax liability on the basis of some specious deal involving employees and their futures? Now that I think about it, were any employees involved in the deal? Admitttedly, this is an uninformed question.

But what are the possible outcomes of a DOL inquiry? Could the feds decide that Zell owes the taxes that the ESOP enabled him to avoid? How can a bankrupt company hope to pay them back on top of the other $13 billion it owes? (Think of the cost of the legal appeals alone.) Has anyone done any speculating as to what the worst-case scenario of this is?

Here are some other takes on the staff reduction.  E&P.  Media Daily News Paid Content.org

Note to refugees and others: You will notice that there is only one story here, published by Crain’s Chicago Business, then picked up by every other outlet. This is the Internet era, after all.