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Nancy Barnes, currently the Star Tribune's Deputy Managing Editor for Content, was named Anders Gyllenhaal's replacement in a 2:30 announcement to the staff this afternoon.

Her in-house competition was assumed to have been Monica Moses, executive director of Product Innovation and, Scott Gillespie, managing editor. At least for the time being both remain in their current jobs.

Publisher Keith Moyer made the announcement and made a point of praising Gyllenhaal's stewardship of the paper. Gyllenhaal is leaving to edit the Miami Herald. According to employees present for the announcement, Moyer had to prompt the staff to tepid applause for Gyllenhaal's performance.

There was no Q&A, and several reporters with whom I spoke say the Barnes announcement, while interesting, doesn't begin to provide the answers the staff is most interested in, namely, how many of them will survive the transition to new owner Avista Capital Partners, expected within the next two weeks.

In a related development, Star Tribune union employees were notified that the company will NOT extend a five day window, commencing on the date of Avista's takeover, for current employees to file for a voluntary buy-out. There had been hope that the five-day process might be extended, and/or the new owners might sweeten the terms of the buy-out to attract more departures.

One veteran employee guesstimated that 15 colleagues might grab the current offer.