Patch, an AOL-owned company that operated several online news sites in the Puget Sound area, including Edmonds, is ceasing operations in Washington state as of Oct. 15, the independent Seattle-based technology news site GeekWire reported Friday. It’s part of a company-wide downsizing that had been rumored for the past week. In total, about 400-500 people will be laid off out of about 900 employees nationally.

Geekwire said that about 15 Patch staff members working in Washington were notified Friday morning about the layoffs. About half of those employees lost their jobs Friday and the other half received notice they will be unemployed Oct. 15. The company has 900 sites nationwide.

“While the layoffs are tragic for those affected, the news is not surprising,” said My Edmonds News publisher Teresa Wippel. “There have been several unsuccessful attempts to ‘scale’ local community online news into a national organization, and Patch is just the latest of these. The reason that approach to local news doesn’t work is simple: Locally owned and operated news outlets directly serve their communities. You can’t replicate that on a national scale.”

You can read the entire GeekWire story here.