Longtime L.A. Times staff writer Mark Arax and the paper reached an undisclosed settlement of their public dispute about a story he wrote about the Armenian genocide that was spiked, leading to a furor in the Armenian American community. Exchanges between Arax and Managing Editor Doug Frantz escalated to the point that editor in chief Jim O'Shea had to memo the entire staff, and it became clear that Arax would be leaving. His parting email to the staff on Friday:

From: Arax, Mark
Sent: Fri 6/15/2007 5:25 PM

"In a garden, growth has its season... As long as the roots are not severed, all will be well."
Chauncey Gardiner, 1979

My new email, in the event you want any tips on growing tomatoes, is xxxxx@xxxxxx.

Arax opened the paper's Fresno bureau in the 1990s (I think) and most recently was a senior writer from there for West magazine.

Incoming: The Times hired Dylan Hernandez from the San Jose Mercury News to take over the Dodgers beat next season. He's young (UCLA '02) and fluent in Spanish and Japanese. Memo from Sports Editor Randy Harvey after the jump:

To: The Staff
From: Randy Harvey, Sports Editor

Good news from the Sports Department: Dylan Hernandez will be joining us from the San Jose Mercury News within the next few weeks.

Dylan will be helping for the remainder of this season with our baseball coverage, both Dodgers and Angels, and then will take over the Dodgers beat full time in November. Fluent in Spanish and Japanese, he has language skills that are especially beneficial in a baseball clubhouse.

Dylan has been with the Mercury News for five years, following internships at the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., and the Boston Globe. He covered Major League Soccer for four seasons and has been the backup beat reporter on the San Francisco Giants since last season.

Dylan is from South Pasadena and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from UCLA in 2002.