In with the new

Careful readers of the Daily Pilot probably have noticed some unfamiliar names gracing the paper for the past few weeks.

Not to worry, it just means we’ve beefed up and added some new staff members who will, I trust, help make the Pilot just that much better.

The names that readers will begin to recognize most are Kathleen Stinson and Dave Brooks. You’ve been seeing them for a few weeks already.

Dave comes to us from our sister paper in Huntington Beach, the Huntington Beach Independent, where he focused on city government since the summer of 2004. He’s consistently produced tough but fair reporting on enough issues that would have a juggler at wits’ end.

While at the paper, Dave took a keen interest in local business stories, so when our business and environment beat opened up here at the Pilot, he was a natural fit.

You’ve seen some results of the move in our Monday business stories, where Dave already is bringing his vivid writing style and aggressive reporting to the Pilot.

As of next week, he will be aboard full-time with us (while breaking in his replacement at the Independent, who starts later this week, and Costa Mesa native Amanda Pennington, who joined the Independent last week, fresh out of college, as a news assistant).

Dave claims he surfs, which I can’t verify ? but that at this point says more about how seldom I’m getting in the water than his trustworthiness.

Kathleen has been with us for a couple of weeks as our new Newport Beach reporter. She has more than 10 years of reporting experience with papers in Kansas, California and Colorado. Most recently she was out in Victorville.

Can you guess how hard it was to convince her to come to Newport-Mesa?

Kathleen will be covering Newport Beach, especially City Hall but also any features or community stories that pop up. The ace in the hole that she brings is a law degree and experience as an assistant city attorney.

So watch out, City Hall.

Astute readers are wondering what Kathleen’s taking over Newport Beach means for one of our longtime reporters, Alicia Robinson.

Alicia has done a terrific job as our city halls reporter, covering both Costa Mesa and Newport Beach governments. It’s a big, meaty beat ? one that has grown ever larger in recent months. Remember, Newport Beach is debating plans for a new city hall, there are several initiatives likely to appear on the fall ballot, a general plan update is in the works and a record six council seats are on the ballot in November. Over in Costa Mesa, the council has put itself in the national spotlight following its decision to have police officers enforce immigration laws, and this fall’s council races are almost certainly going to have more than a dozen candidates.

With all that news happening, I decided the beat had just gotten too big for one person. I made Alicia choose which part of her beat she’d keep, and she picked Costa Mesa. She’ll also be keeping her higher-level politics beat, where she’s proven herself adept at getting sources to talk about bigger issues.

I trust in the end the combination of Alicia and Kathleen in our two cities will mean more stories ? important, interesting and even just plain entertaining ? for our readers.

Dave, Kathleen and Alicia are the names readers will be seeing. There are a few other changes behind the scenes to note.

First off, Mark Essig, who for about seven months has been a copy editor on our weekly papers, has now joined City Editor Carol Chambers on the front line of editing as an assistant city editor. Mark has a doctorate in history from Cornell University, so he’ll be reading our “Good old days” feature and anything to do with Newport Beach’s centennial.

Mark, in all seriousness, has brought a fresh eye and smart perspective to our papers and to our news meetings. I’m looking forward to his working more with our reporters ? it will end up benefiting our papers.

Replacing Mark on our copy desk is Craig Howie, who’s name you might never see but, because he comes from Scotland ? accent and all ? well, I just like that we got a Scotsman on board. He’s already written some tremendous headlines for us, and I expect us to see more of that in the days, weeks and months ahead.

As those days, weeks and months pass, I’m confident readers will be seeing a better, more engaging, thoughtful and thought-provoking Daily Pilot.