Stephanie Simon, a national reporter based in Denver for the Los Angeles Times, will roam the heartland for the Wall Street Journal starting April 14. At the L.A. Times she has worked in Moscow, Ventura, Los Angeles and Chicago, and reported from all over the Midwest. Her departure is another morale sapper for staffers who remain, but can't be considered much of a surprise. She was wooed by the New York Times in 2005, and in 2007 was identified by Slate's Jack Shafer as one of the L.A. Times staffers most ripe for poaching by media outlets happy to receive LAT talent fed up with mismanagement and cutbacks at the paper and its Tribune Company parent. Concern about Sam Zell's antics and the threat of new buyouts and layoffs later in the year make it likely we'll see more of these jumps.

Earlier this weekend:
Departing reporter zings Zell
More arrows for Zell
Weinstein's exit mail also chides Zell