New York Times taps discarded talent

The New York Times began publishing its California Bay Area pages last week and now the paper has announced it will partner with a few former Chicago Tribune alumni to produce a local Chicago edition starting next month.

From the Times:

James O’Shea, the former editor of The Los Angeles Times and managing editor of The Tribune, will serve as editor of the new Chicago News Cooperative, and James Warren, another former managing editor of The Tribune, will write a regular column for the service. Peter Osnos, another well-known journalist and founder of PublicAffairs books, is the chairman of its advisory board, and one of the board members is Ann Marie Lipinski, former editor of The Tribune.

As the Times rolls out these local editions (which are really pages of content devoted to regional coverage), one has to wonder if the paper has plans for Los Angeles? I suspect USC's journalism school and the founders of The Journalism Shop - a collaboration of former Los Angeles Times staffers - have perked up their ears.