I am sad to report that Rick Coca is leaving us to become a press deputy for Councilman Jose Huizar. His last day will be May 28. Rick joined us a few years ago from CSUN and also participated in the Chips Quinn program. He was one of the original members of the valleynews.com team before moving to Metro night cops and recently to the Glendale/Burbank beat. He has shown incredible growth as a reporter and writer during his time at the Daily News. His upbeat attitude and professionalism will be missed. More tough news... AME George Foulsham is leaving us on June 6. He has accepted a position as News Director at UC Santa Barbara (Go Gauchos!). George joined us in 2006 and was quickly promoted to AME and his contributions to the paper have been significant in his time here. Not only did he redesign the paper to give it more impact, but he was invaluable consolidating content and production in LANG, not to mention he has been a great mentor to many. Simply put, he's one of the good guys (even if he golfs and likes the Cowboys).

• L.A. Times Editor Russ Stanton has re-jiggered the print photo and web video shooters into a new Visual Journalism department and promoted Colin Crawford to deputy managing editor: "...a fully integrated department in editorial that will serve our site and our newspaper, combining our print photo, Web photo and video operations into one new department," says Stanton's memo.
• The Times also expanded upon yesterday's list of editorial award winners and gave special prizes to the Washington bureau's Pentagon reporters and newsroom legal counsel Karlene Goller. She recently moved her office, by the way, from the legal department into the third-floor newsroom.
• And finally, an LAist blogger excoriates CityBeat's new intellectual and taste standards, including this week's intro to the Travel issue: "Did you know that Hitler managed to give every German man, woman and child a yearly vacation at either the mountains or the sea?"

Warren Cowan, 87, the legendary publicist who pioneered entertainment publicity and co-founded iconic entertainment PR firm Rogers & Cowan, passed away last night (Wednesday, May 14, 2008) just three weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. He passed peacefully at Cedars-Sinai and was surrounded by his family, including wife Barbara, daughter Claudia Cowan, and step-daughters Melissa Gilbert and Sara Gilbert. Cowan’s passing marks the end of an era from the “Hollywood press agent” he personified and perfected to today’s PR people. His career spanned more than 60 years, joining publicist Henry Rogers at his new firm in 1946 following Cowan’s three years in the U.S. Air Force and graduation from UCLA. He became a partner in Rogers & Cowan in 1950. Over the years, Cowan represented the biggest stars, most-successful movies, most-spectacular television shows, and handled everyone from Fortune 500 companies to authors and politicians. Two of his former clients were President Ronald Reagan and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He and President Reagan often joked that if Cowan had done a better job with publicity during his acting career, Reagan wouldn’t not have had to find a new career in politics. Cowan was one of Hollywood’s most energetic executives and worked as much as the clock would allow. He started early. While attending UCLA and majoring in journalism, he was moonlighting and multi-tasking as publicist for actress Linda Darnell, then one of 20th Century-Fox’s biggest stars, while working as a reporter for UCLA’s “Daily Bruin.” His client list over the years included the biggest names – and often the biggest publicity stunts – in entertainment history. Until his death, he still represented long-time clients Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward at his entertainment PR firm, Warren Cowan & Associates. His clients over the years included Elizabeth Taylor, Danny Kaye, Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Shirley MacLaine, Elton John, Doris Day, Gene Kelly, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Jennifer Jones, Steve McQueen, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Joan Crawford, President Reagan, Governor Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Aaron Spelling, Jack Valenti, Cary Grant, Jack Lemmon, Danielle Steel, John Wayne, Henry Mancini, Bette Midler, Merv Griffin, Clint Eastwood, The Doors, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Jackson and Peter Ustinov. If asked who his favorite client was, Cowan’s answer never varied: "The next one."