Union members taking buyouts could get up to two years' worth of base salaries in their job categories, depending on how long they have been with the paper. The buyouts are cost-cutting measures aimed at cutting 100 newsroom staff positions.

Among other reporters and editors who have decided to take buyouts or are seriously considering it include: Lawrence K. Altman, who writes about medicine and in 1981 broke the story about a disease that would later be named AIDS; the Washington bureau's Philip Shenon; Karen Arenson, an education reporter; and Jane Gross, who has worked in the sports and metro departments, and once ran the newspaper's San Francisco bureau, Radar reported.

Others considering taking buyouts include Craig Whitney, assistant managing editor, and Nakana'ela Scott Nathaniel, a 35-year-old editorial page Web producer who also videotaped the second airplane hitting the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. He is the youngest person considering a buyout, according to Radar.