Sacramento uncovered

Capitol Morning Report reports three newspapers have folded their Sacramento bureaus in the past couple of months. The latest was the Orange County Register, which continues to have a reporter in Sacramento, except that he now works out of his apartment.

The Stockton Record and the Los Angeles Daily Journal shuttered their bureaus at the end of May and fired their reporters. A friend of mine in the Governor's press office said there's a running joke that since television is the only media still around, they might as well lay off the rest of their press secretaries and save the state some money.

Here's the release from last month's Morning Report:

The Orange County Register closed its Sacramento bureau this week though reporter Brian Joseph will continue to cover the Capitol from an office in his home, an apartment at 16th and O streets. Politics editor Julie Gallego reports the office is closing "as part of an ongoing effort to save costs." It seems only a short time ago that the Register's office was expanded to accommodate a staff of five about the time Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected Governor. The bureau is the third Capitol news bureau to close in the past few weeks. The Stockton Record closed on May 29 laying off reporter Hank Shaw and the LA Daily Journal closed its bureau in April and laid off reporter Linda Rapattoni on May 30.

The Daily Journal's Capitol bureau used to be a two-person operation, most recently with Rapattoni and me splitting coverage of state politics. I left for KCRW and she stuck around until they killed off the bureau entirely. She was just hired as press secretary for state Sen. Gloria Romero. Here's that press release:

Sen. Gloria Romero has announced hiring Linda Rapattoni to be her press secretary. She'll be handling the media while Communications Director Russ Lopez is working on press conferences on budgetary issues for pro Tem Don Perata. Rapattoni, 54, had covered the Legislature and state government the last eight years for the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journals, two legal dailies owned by the same publishing company. At the end of May Rapattoni was laid off as part of a corporate cost-cutting measure. During her 30-year career in journalism, Rapattoni also worked for Daily Variety, Copley News Service and UPI in Los Angeles and Arizona. Contact: Rapattoni 916 651-4024.

In related news: Jack Kavanagh, who runs the indispensable Rough & Tumble Web site, has yet to return from what he said was a bout with the stomach flu. In a message left on Saturday, July 12, Kavanagh said he was heading to the hospital for treatment and would update the site as soon as he was released.