Weekend media shorts

Michael Speier, the former Variety executive editor who was named managing editor at Deadline.com in September, has quietly parted ways with Nikki Finke's operation, according to Hollywood sources. The press release on his hire has disappeared from the Deadline site. He previously had parted ways with Sharon Waxman at The Wrap.
Journalist Allison Hope Weiner's lingering questions about the Ronni Chasen murder investigation.
Tina Daunt, who was based at City Hall for the L.A. Times during the Riordan and Hahn administrations, is moving back in to write about politics for AOL Patch, the Huffington Post and others.
Channel 4's Angie Crouch tweeted Sunday night: "LA's incoming Fire Chief saw me trying to cross a flooded area at a high rise fire today & without a word, picked me up & carried me across!"
Former politics blogger Scott Schmidt is running for the City Council in West Hollywood.
Patch has launched a news site in Santa Monica.
When Jack Kerouac hitchhiked through Arcadia.