Molly Hennessy-Fiske to cover L.A. County government

Here's the memo to the staff from David Lauter, California Editor:

I'm happy to announce that Molly Hennessy-Fiske, who has done excellent work in Washington, Baghdad and on the Metro staff, will be taking on a new assignment, joining our City-County bureau to focus on L.A. County government.

Molly joined The Times initially in the Washington bureau in 2006, where she wrote about economics and the gathering home mortgage crisis, did excellent work on the Virginia Tech shootings and served two tours in our Baghdad bureau. Since moving to the Metro staff last year, she has had a role in practically every major story to come along, from the wildfires to gang shootings, the San Marino murder mystery and, most recently, the Chatsworth train crash. She has been an innovator on our morning desk, pioneering in efforts to get our stories out on the Web quickly and cleanly. And she has proven herself repeatedly as a versatile, dogged and resourceful reporter -- qualities she'll need in dealing with the county bureaucracy and the supervisors.

In her new assignment, she'll be partnering with another determined, energetic reporter, Garrett Therolf, who has been breaking stories on the county beat since taking it over early this spring.

Please join me in congratulating Molly on her excellent work so far and a new, challenging assignment ahead.