We have several new faces and...

We have several new faces and several changes to announce.

Today, we begin a new era at the Daily Pilot with the addition of

our new front-page columnist Lolita Harper. Titled Thinking Allowed,

Harper’s column will bring a fresh voice and perspective to our news

pages with a purely local tinge, from the sandy beaches to the shops

of South Coast Plaza. Her column will run Monday, Wednesday and

Friday, on topics from schools to crime, as well as her old stomping

grounds at Costa Mesa City Hall. In addition, she will be the paper’s

new culture beat reporter, covering such topics as arts,

entertainment and religion.

Harper, a graduate of USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism, has

been reporting on Costa Mesa issues for going on two years. Before

that, she was the police reporter at our sister paper the Burbank

Leader.

Replacing Harper on the Costa Mesa beat will be Deirdre Newman.

Newman has been our education beat reporter for more than a year and

has won some nationwide awards for her feature writing. Before

arriving here, Newman worked at the San Mateo Weekly. She is a

graduate of Cornell University.

Our new education reporter is Christine Carrillo. Carrillo has

been our news assistant for the last several months. Before that, she

was the intern at the Daily Pilot. She will bring a fresh perspective

to the education assignment. Raised in Costa Mesa and a graduate of

Chapman University, she will write with that local feel that embodies

our paper.

Replacing Carrillo as news assistant is Coral Wilson. Wilson has

held such jobs as scuba diving instructor in the Caribbean,

photojournalist in Kenya and English teacher in Taiwan. She’s a

Laguna Beach native and holds a degree in anthropology/photography

from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. and was recently the

Daily Pilot intern.

Replacing former features editor Jennifer Mahal will be News

Editor Paul Saitowitz, who will handle the organizing, planning and

editing for all the arts and entertainment and life and leisure

coverage. A hopeful screenwriter, Saitowitz has long had an interest

in arts and entertainment. He will also contribute stories and maybe

a column or two.

In concert with these changes, we are also announcing that

Managing Editor S.J. Cahn has officially taken the title of Forum

page editor at the Daily Pilot. Cahn will be in charge of editing and

planning those pages, which include Community Commentary, letters to

the editor and staff editorials.

Finally, Editor Tony Dodero’s From the Newsroom will now appear on

the Sunday Forum pages.

We are very excited about these changes and believe they will go a

long way toward strengthening our paper and our staff. We hope you

agree, and would love to hear your feedback. Call the Readers Hotline

at (949) 642-6086 or send an e-mail to [email protected].

-- The editors