Congratulations, Mr. Welch!

Old pal Matt Welch has joined the Los Angeles Times as assistant opinion editor. Congratulations, Matt. Here, here!

My dear friend, former Budapest flatmate and my always wise and kind editor is moving on and up to bigger things. Although he will be missed on the pages of Reason magazine you can always find him over at his place.

Matt will truly be missed over at Reason's Hit & Run blog where he posted this today:

Good Night, and Have a Pleasant Tomorrow

A quick personal note of farewell: This will be my last post to Hit & Run. I've taken a job with the L.A. Times, as an assistant editor in the Opinion section, starting today.

Without getting too weepy about it, I want to give my sincere thanks to those of you who read and comment here, and send me the occasional e-mail. I've learned a lot, and am grateful for your tolerance of my odd enthusiasms. As is hopefully evident both here and in the magazine, Reason is a terrific place to work, and I will miss it. Feel free to drop in over at my website, and please check the LAT for some hopefully interesting opinion-slinging. (I'll be writing and editing both unsigned editorials and bylined commentary.) Be seeing you.

Good Luck, Mr. Welch.

Jersey Speak

The Times-Picayune down in New Orleans ran a nice little story about how our cops here in Union County, NJ, helped out in Kenner, LA, after Katrina hit. The Jersey cops also took up a big collection later to aid their fellow officers of the Kenner Police Department. I was honored to have a very small part in public information end of things. I just have to remember to not sound so Jersey when talking with reporters.

The 36 Union County officers who set up camp in Kenner patrolled, responded to 911 calls, apprehended looters and conducted search-and-rescue missions. In their free time, they rescued animals.

"They've all got real big hearts for pets," said Jim Lowney, public information officer for Union County.

Posted by Jim at 11:30 AM