Also this issue:

Operation Mean Streets
Point Breeze residents say police pulled out of the neighborhood, resulting in bloodshed.
-Daryl Gale

Summer Fun
How mobsters vacation.
-Brendan McGarvey

On a MOVE Towards Ed
-Daryl Gale

Checkpoint Schweiker
A new plan will require journos and lobbyists working at the State Capitol to undergo background checks.
-Deborah Bolling

Happy as Clams
-Mary F. Patel

August 29-September 4, 2002

city beat

Inky Shuffle

by Deborah Bolling

The shakeup at the Inky may be starting to settle down. As of last week, management began filling some of the 105 job openings (which included many titles that were retitled, forcing some longtime staffers to re-apply for their jobs) that were announced on July 30.

Lini Kadaba, an Inky features writer who's been with the paper since 1986, was named as the new general assignment/quality of life reporter in the Pennsylvania suburbs. "I'm very happy about this job -- I volunteered for it," she said on the second day of her new gig. Kadaba goes from working at 400 N. Broad St. to a comfortable seat at the Chester County bureau in West Chester.

Patrick Kerkstra, a former two-year correspondent who left the program six months early to finish his undergraduate degree at UCLA while overseeing the campus student newspaper, was lured back to the Inky with a "real job" in July. Effective immediately, Kerkstra becomes the fourth member of the Pennsylvania sprawl team. "This is now the place to be," he says, referring to the Schuylkill Printing Plant (SPP) in Conshohocken.

Lou Rabito, Bucks County editor, will become the new Pennsylvania Neighbors editor just as soon as they find a replacement for the post he'll be vacating in Langhorne. "I don't know the last time we had a person in charge of this section," says the 13-year veteran who started out as a sports editor. "But I've always enjoyed Neighbors and I'd like to see ... it attract more readers."

Connie Langland, who has been at the paper since 1977, has transitioned from suburban education writer to Montgomery County education writer. Since 1997, Langland has overseen the well-regarded annual "Report Card on the Schools." She says she will continue in that role. "I was doing regional stories and I'll continue doing regional stories," she says. "But now I'll pay a little closer attention to the 22 school districts in Montco."

The Inky editorial page is also making some changes.

Editorial page editor Chris Satullo says that by mid-September, four additions will be made to the Editorial Board.

Herb Kestenbaum, the former Sunday Review editor, will become Letters editor.

Pat Mazurek, who has been the day supervisor for the editorial assistants, will fill the newly created position of Editorial Board editorial assistant.

Janet McMillan, who at one time was Pennsylvania Bureau Chief and most recently assistant to editor Walker Lundy, will launch a new position as the Metro Commentary page editor.

Lisa Tracy, a New Jersey swing editor based in Cherry Hill, will launch another newly created position as the New Jersey Voices editor.

And a little higher up on the food chain, Publisher and Chairman Bob Hall announced Tuesday the appointment of Fred Mott to the position of president and general manger at Inky parent company Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. (PNI). The position has been vacant since Steve Rossi left in 1998 to become the No. 2 man at Knight Ridder. Mott will be responsible for circulation, production systems and finance, reporting directly to Hall. Two senior vice presidents and the chief financial officer will now report to Mott. The editors of the Inky and The Daily News, human resources, labor relations and the general counsel will continue to report to Hall. Mott starts next month.

And, finally, the Inky made one brand new hire:

Oliver W. Prichard, a 1998 Dartmouth college graduate, and a former general assignment and crime reporter at The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., will join the Pennsylvania staff on Sept. 30 as the Montgomery County inner ring reporter.

Without a doubt, more to come...