Chuck Philips is the investigative reporter and Pulitzer winner whose March story linking rapper Sean Combs to an attack on Tupac Shakur was fully retracted by the Los Angeles Times after some of the key backup material was traced to a hoaxer. Philips told me today that he asked to be given a buyout and will be leaving the paper. Philips and Michael Hiltzik won the 1999 Pulitzer in beat reporting for an investigative series on the entertainment industry.

Other LAT exits: Among the veteran writers whose departures are confirmed are award-winning environmental reporter Marla Cone, Calendar writers Paul Brownfield and Richard Cromelin, deputy politics desk editor Stu Silverstein, Metro reporter Deborah Schoch, Orange County writer William Lobdell and horse racing handicapper Bob Mieszerski. I'll post a fuller list of editors, designers, reporters and other journalists later. Cone says she will be "heading up an enterprise funded by a foundation that realizes we need to expand, not shrink, our coverage of environmental issues." Add: Calendar classical music writer Chris Pasles and arts writer Lynne Heffley.