Updated: WSJ reports that the cuts would be above 1,000, though an exact number isn’t clear. These will come from the U.S. Community Publishing division, which is Gannet’s coterie of smaller local dailies, about 80 of them.

We have written about Gannett’s ongoing troubles, including rumors about another major round of layoffs. NYT’s Media Decoder is now reporting the layoffs might come in the next few days, but likely will be much smaller than the 4,500 number that was mentioned by the non-affiliated Gannett (NYSE: GCI) Blog earlier this month. No word on the pay cuts, also rumored.

Gannett, which is a poster child for all the challenges newspapers are facing, had a particularly dismal first quarter, with profits down 60 percent. It has already laid off about 10,000 employees in 2007 and 2008, with the last round of 2,000 announced in October of last year. The company has also been cutting costs everywhere, including cutting home delivery of The Detroit Free Press from daily to three days a week, and closing down The Tucson Citizen.