Two reporters return to California desk

Here is a memo to the staff from California editor David Lauter announcing new assignments for reporters Jessica Garrison and Bill Lobdell.

Two excellent reporters back from leave will be starting up interesting new assignments. Here's what they are:

Jessica Garrison -- back from maternity leave, is about to launch a new beat that we're calling How we Live Now. The beat will look at housing, but from the standpoint of what it actually means for people and communities, rather than from a focus on institutions or policy. What's that mean? Well, here are some examples of stories: Folks who bought in transitional neighborhoods and are now realizing their half-million-dollar home is in a neighborhood shared by gang members who aren't going away; families who are digging up their backyards and planting vegetables; former owners camped out in homes that have been foreclosed; the strange trend of people "redecorating" their garages. It's a way to write about the metropolis by focusing on people as they, in turn, focus on where they live. Jessica joined the Times in 1999 as a stringer, then became a reporter in Orange County before moving to LA in 2002, where she has covered education, city hall and courts. She lives in Highland Park with her husband, a two-year-old, a six-month old and a very old dog.

Bill Lobdell -- has returned from a four-month book leave ("Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith While Covering Religion in America" in bookstores February) to work a newly created "people" beat. Bill will produce profiles large and small of Southland residents. These people will be famous and obscure, and some will be once-familiar figures with whom we will be catching up. Bill will continue to be based in Orange County, but his profile subjects will be from throughout Southern California. Before going on book leave, Bill was the city editor of the Orange County edition for a year and covered the religion beat for eight years, a role in which he won several national awards. Prior to coming to The Times, Bill was editor of the Newport Beach/Costa Mesa Daily Pilot and Times Community News. Bill attended Stanford and graduated from UC Irvine, where he's a visiting faculty member. He is married with four boys and does Ironman triathlons in his spare time -- or at least he plans to do so once again when he recovers from recent surgery on his feet and gets out of his wheelchair.

Please join me in welcoming back Jessica and Bill and congratulating them on their new assignments.