Times Sacto bureau could take hit

Daniel Weintraub reports on the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert website that Robert Salladay, who writes the LAT's Political Muscle blog from Sacramento, plans to take the buyout. Here's the item, which resides behind the pay wall:

Robert Salladay, the LA Times political reporter and, since September, blogger extraordinaire, is leaving the paper. Salladay tells me he was contemplating a departure even before the debut of his blog, Political Muscle, but postponed it to see if the new venture would renew his enthusiasm for daily (hourly?) journalism. It did not, so now he is taking advantage of the latest Times' buyout of its employees. He'll probably be gone by June 1. His future could include books (fiction or non-fiction), screenplays, magazine articles or something completely new. We wish him well. No word yet on the fate of the blog.

I'm not sure how Salladay (or Weintraub) can be so certain since, as I understand it, Times management has a week or so after Monday's filing deadline to decide who gets paid to leave. But maybe Salladay plans to resign regardless. Could be a lot of empty desks in the bureau, since I'm hearing that a couple of other Sacramento reporters are also contemplating the buyout.

Also: Praise for the Times from SPJ's News Gems.