Recent chatter in the L.A. Times newsroom had co-managing editor Leo Wolinsky in trouble with the forces of Tribune over his overtures to suitors Eli Broad and David Geffen and openly despondent about his future at the paper. Looks like he's staying, and with yet another title. His business cards in the past have read executive editor, managing editor of news, plain-old M.E. and deputy M.E. Now he'll be the paper's associate editor, with duties that don't sound so different from what he has been doing. On the Sunday masthead, he was even with ME's John Arthur and John Montorio. Memo follows, along with the transfer to Metro of a rookie Washington bureau reporter, Molly Hennessy-Fiske.

From: OShea, James
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 10:46 AM
Subject: Leo Wolinsky

To the Staff:

I am pleased to name Leo Wolinsky Associate Editor of the Los Angeles Times with responsibility for Page One and other duties. As we all know, Leo is a widely-respected editor who has proven himself time and again over decades at the Times. His new masthead position will take advantage of his excellent news judgment, consummate management skills, proven leadership and his deep knowledge of readership issues. Leo will oversee the Page One desk as well as the management of editorial news hole and ad standards, an area of increasing importance given the newspaper industry's movement towards more innovative ads. In his new job, Leo will continue as a crucial member of my management team and will report to me. He also will work with John Arthur on Page 1 issues. His duties will expand in the future as we continue to reorganize the masthead. Please join me in congratulating Leo on his new duties.

Jim

James O'Shea
Editor
Los Angeles Times

And regarding Hennessy-Fiske:

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

I am very pleased to welcome Molly Hennessy-Fiske, most recently of The Times' Washington Bureau, to the California reporting staff.

Molly has been doing some terrific work for National, Foreign and Business. Over the past 18 months at The Times, she has covered economics from Washington, including early pieces on the looming home mortgage crisis. She wrote about the pain of a family that lost a child in the Virginia Tech shootings, and filed thoughtful dispatches during her two tours in Iraq. Now Metro will benefit from her versatility and deep reporting skills.

A native of Syracuse, N.Y., Molly came to The Times in 2006 from her hometown paper, The Post-Standard, where she helped start the projects desk. She has been a general assignment reporter at The (Raleigh) News & Observer; and covered the cops and courts beat at The Palm Beach Post. A graduate of Harvard College, Molly interned at the Miami Herald, Boston Globe, News & Observer and the Schenectady, N.Y., Daily Gazette. She was also a Pew Fellow in Mexico, where she learned Spanish and filed several stories for American papers.

Molly joins the California staff on Sept 17.