Glenn Turner, who has held a variety of management and editorial positions at the Central Maine Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal over the past 37 years, has taken advantage of a termination officer and will leave March 31.
So will Justin Ellis, the host of NXT: The Next Generation blog at the Press Herald.
“The plan and its timing afford me a chance to explore new opportunities,” Turner wrote in an e-mail to his colleagues on Monday. “Personally and professionally, I believe this is the right thing to do. But don’t think I won’t miss you all.”
Turner’s latest assignment was special sections editor for the two dailies. He also served as president of the Maine Press Association in 1992-93.
Maine Today Media had previously announced several cutbacks at all three of its daily newspapers – the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Central Maine Morning Sentinel – in order to trim expenses.
Ellis, who has been with the Portland paper since 2003, made his announcement on March 17.
Referring to Maine Today Media’s announcement last month that another round of staff reductions was looming, Ellis said that since the company was looking for “willing bodies (to accept a buyout), I volunteered.”
“Even though I’ll be sticking around Press Herald Plaza till the end of the month, I wanted to drop the news first before anyone else got around to it.” 
Although Ellis wrote that the NXT desk “will likely close its doors,” no announcement from MTM was made about the future of the blog.
Ellis presented a social networking workshop at the 2009 Maine Press Association Fall Conference.