Mark Ficarra is stepping down as publisher of the Daily Breeze to become a VP at the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Register has lost investigative reporter Norberto Santana Jr. and business writer John Gittelsohn, and investigative reporter William Heisel has left the Los Angeles Times. When Heisel was hired in 2006, my hed was Times grabs a Register star. Finally, design editor Ken Broder posts on his personal website that he has been laid off from the Times. Here's some of his exit note to the newsroom from last week:

today is my last day at the Los Angeles Times. it seems like only yesterday that the crisis in newspapers reached its peak with the shuttering of my previous employer, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, but 19-plus years later that observation has proven to be a bit shortsighted.

this place has paradoxically been for me both a refuge from the nastier vicissitudes of life and an opportunity to indulge all my obsessions with the world around me. i feel that i've fulfilled my undergraduate objective of hiding out in school forever.

except forever ends today.

for those who care to stay in touch, i can be reached at xxxxxx. my website is http://www.theeditorsdisclaimer.com...

and for those who remain, i caution that should you never let an assumption of stupidity overwhelm your suspicion of venality.

as for me:

"Done, I'm done and I'm on to the next one."