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A Poynter Institute blogger posts that "rumor has it that News Corp — with a $2.5 billion cash kitty for acquisitions — may be mounting a new bid for the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the six other Tribune newspapers....I would not typically report a publishing rumor. This one could prove dead wrong. But a confidential tip that started this inquiry was more substantive than gossip on the street." Poynter
Tom Hoffarth, the Daily News sports media columnist, is going part-time. His regular day job now will be managing a retail store in South Bay for non-profit called Ten Thousand Villages South Bay. "We wanted to launch a store that helps people. It’s as simple as that," Hoffarth says. "The company sends representatives out to developing countries, finds artisans who make pretty incredible things, and sets up what’s called a Fair Trade arrangement. They get paid up front, we work with them on developing more craft items that we can sell, they start their own business and have an established way to empower themselves to get out of poverty, send their kids to school for the first time, get health care, build a house for themselves." Sherman Report
A new hire at KCRW: Claire Martin is the newest producer for "To the Point" and "Which Way, LA?" From Warren Olney's memo to the staff: "Claire's a real pro with long experience as a freelancer for the NYT, WSJ, LA Magazine, Wired, Smithsonian, the Daily Beast and others. She writes the Prototype column for the NYT Sunday Business section.
She's also been an editor for Men's Journal and Outside."
Ron Campbell, formerly an investigative reporter at the Orange County Register and known for his work with data, has joined the Center for Health Reporting. His first stories — on breaches of medical records — ran Sunday in the OC and LA Registers.
Marzieh Rasouli, an Iranian journalist who writes mainly about literature for reformist newspapers and her popular blog, Three Days Ago, was taken into custody at Evin Prison in Tehran to begin serving a two-year sentence for taking part in street protests in 2009 and publishing what the authorities called antistate propaganda. The verdict, which she learned about in a phone call on Monday, also calls for her to receive 50 lashes. NYT
James Fallows of The Atlantic was a California high-speed rail fan to begin with, but now he's even mores. He explains.
The seldom-seen documentary "Los Angeles Plays Itself" will soon be available to buy on DVD. Distribution company Cinema Guild says it has acquired rights to that and three other Thom Andersen films. Gizmodo
KCET's blog takes an academic look at "Demography, Failed Secession, and Urban Politics in [the] San Fernando Valley." Intersections
Behind the scenes photos of the ESPN Magazine Body issue, featuring Venus Williams among others. ESPN gallery
The New Yorker is overhauling its website, making all articles it has published since 2007 available free for three months before introducing a paywall for online subscribers. NYT
The New York Times editorialized on the need to save water in California. NYT
