When Jerry Roberts left the San Francisco Chronicle and turned up last year as editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press, more than a few newspaper types moaned that he snagged their ideal job. It must be going okay since he's now been named publisher as well. Alas, if he's the publisher, that means there's nobody between Roberts and the big potential downside of newspapering in Santa Barbara.

The Roberts item is from the California Newspaper Publishers Assn. bulletin, which also covers a squabble between the Los Angeles Metropolitan News-Enterprise and the Los Angeles Daily Journal over the arcane, but apparently lucrative, right to publish legal notices.