This time it is City Editor Judi Erickson who decided the grass is greener outside the Dean Singleton newspaper universe. Memo from Editor Carolina Garcia:

All,

I'm sad to report that the wonderful Judi Erickson is leaving the Daily News to pursue a lucrative consulting opportunity. But being a truly generous person, Judi will continue with us on a part-time basis for a month or so editing stories at the end of the day while we search for a new city editor.

Her shoes will be hard to fill. Judi is an amazing word editor and we appreciate her skill at polishing stories. Judi says it took her three tries before she was hired at the DN. She started out four years ago supervising the Glendale bureau and after a few months was reassigned to the politics and government reporters where she excelled at making sure we held public officials' feet to the fire. She reveled in the role of watchdog for Angelenos' tax dollars. Late last year, she became City Editor and helped the city staff develop too many great stories to mention.

Judi has been gracious under fire, showing us a wonderful sense of humor and professionalism. Throughout all of the changes, she has ensured that the staff stayed focused on doing their best with a true dedication, commitment and passion that is a testament to everyone.

In the meantime, while we conduct a search for a city editor, Aron Miller will serve as interim city editor. Aron has been at the DN for two years and has firmly cemented his role on the city desk.

Judi's last day is Friday, Sept. 26th, and she will step into her new role on Monday, Sept. 1.

Gracias,
Carolina

Just to tote up the bill so far for 2008: Editor Ron Kaye, Managing Editor Melissa Lalum, Assistant ME George Foulsham, Editor of the Editorial Page Chris Weinkopf, columnist Bridget Johnson, education reporter Naush Boghossian, Washington reporter Lisa Friedman, feature writer Brent Hopkins, music critic Fred Shuster, Glendale reporter Alex Dobuzinskis, web editor Josh Kleinbaum, cityside reporters Val Kuklenski and Rick Coca, Kings beat reporter Matthew Kredell, sports writers Matt McHale, Billy Witz and Heather Gripp, and many others whose names I did not confirm. And it's still early in the year. To be fair, there have been some hires mixed in with the departures.