There's continued talk at the L.A. Times of looming cost-cutting and a senior newsroom shift in the works, but I guess there is no hiring freeze. The LAT has snapped up Margot Roosevelt, a national correspondent here for Time Magazine. Memo follows:

To: The Staff
From: Janet Clayton, Assistant Managing Editor

I am delighted to announce that Margot Roosevelt, national correspondent based in Los Angeles for Time Magazine and time.com, is joining the California staff. Margot, a deeply experienced, versatile reporter and fine writer, will use her skills to tackle a variety of topics. One of her early assignments will include, but not be limited to, the California environmental story.

Looking at her impressive career, it would be easier to list the few topics that Margot has not covered. In her 13 years based in Los Angeles for Time, she covered the environment, energy, health, education, labor, race, crime, agriculture and immigration in the West. She also reported news from Mexico and Canada. Earlier, as Time's Paris correspondent, she covered news, culture and features in France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and North Africa. She wrote cover stories on topics ranging from the European Union to the global sex trade. Prior to joining Time, she worked at the Washington Post as the New York bureau chief, congressional correspondent, national environmental reporter and metro reporter.

Margot is a graduate of Harvard University, with a bachelor's degree in history. She is fluent in Spanish and French. After leaping around the world, she's decided that there is no more fascinating story to tell than the one that springs from California. Margot, who is the mother of two sons, lives in Sherman Oaks. She will join us April 30.

Time closed its Los Angeles bureau this year but has kept correspondents here who are willing to work out of their homes.