LeDuff ankles NYT

National editor Suzanne Daley wishes the former L.A. staff correspondent well in a newsroom note posted at Romenesko:

Charlie was part of the team that won the Pulitzer for the "How Race is Lived in America" series. He moved to L.A. in 2002, covering Bob Hope turning 100, Arnold Schwarzenegger's run for the governership [sic] and the Michael Jackson trial. He wrote a Page 1 story about rats in Beverly Hills. Then he moved to video and during the second half of 2006, took his creativity in a new direction, helping us all learn a lot about what it takes to simultaneously produce a feature for the paper and a video component for the Web through American Album.

He's touring with his new book, "Us Guys." We wish him well.

Media note #2: Dan Weintraub's groundbreaking Sacramento politics blog, California Insider, has formally vanished behind the pay wall at the Bee's new premium site, Capitol Alert. Archives remain open to all. He's also writing a book about Gov. Schwarzenegger, according to Political Muscle.

Media note #3: Metroblogging has added San Jose as its 53rd city, fifth within California.

Media note #4: Cindy Chang, stringer for the NYT bureau here and freelancer for the LAT's Calendar Weekend, is moving on to a gig at the New Orleans Times-Picayune.