The Orange County Register has found its replacement for Mark Katches, who announced in September that he was leaving his post as Senior Team Leader/Watchdog Journalism — and leaving the OC for Milwaukee. The new investigations editor is already in-house: Chris Knap, longtime reporter and the Register's wine columnist. The newsroom note is after the jump.

All: Chris Knap is our new team leader for investigations.

Starting today, he will be responsible for leading the collaboration on newsroom investigative work, big and small.

All of our neighborhoods are responsible for investigative work. Chris's job is to guarantee the quality of that work, from tip to publication.

About Chris:

Chris has 25 years of experience covering health care, business, legal issues, and government, including work as a state Capitol correspondent in two states. He also has experience in computer assisted reporting.

Chris has won more than two dozen reporting and writing awards. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer in explanatory journalism in 2004.

He teaches Journalism at Cal State University Long Beach.

He has written a wine column for 11 years.

In his spare time he enjoys skiing with his family, windsurfing, working on old sports cars, and restoring his 75-year bungalow in Long Beach.

Before coming to California, Chris covered state government for the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette, where he exposed corruption by two state Senate leaders and governor Arch A. Moore, each of whom eventually went to federal prison.