City Editor

Former Daily Pilot education reporter Danette Goulet has been named the paper's new city editor. Goulet has been city editor of one of the Pilot's sister papers, the Huntington Beach Independent, for two years. Under her watch, the paper has won eight statewide journalism awards. Among those awards was one for an environmental story Goulet wrote. "Danette is an excellent journalist and will be great Pilot city editor," Pilot Editor Tony Dodero said.

One of the toughest things about being the editor of the Daily Pilot is that this newspaper is often the training ground for young journalists who go from here to bigger, though not always better, things. We've sent reporters and editors to the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the St. Petersburg Times and the Seattle Times, to name just a few. This summer, we've lost a slew of young talent. Our education reporter Christine Carrillo left us to go to work in public relations.

COSTA MESA -- Returning the newsroom to a more traditional management structure, Daily Pilot Editor Tony Dodero on Tuesday announced two promotions at the paper. Senior City Editor S.J. Cahn was named managing editor, and Assistant City Editor James Meier will take over day-to-day supervision of the reporting staff as city editor. As managing editor, Cahn will oversee the reporting, features and photo desks at the paper. He joined the paper as city editor nearly three years ago, weeks before a man drove onto a Costa Mesa playground, killing two children.

Costa Mesa council cancels meeting The Costa Mesa City Council will not hold a meeting today. The council canceled its second meeting of the month, which usually falls on the third Monday of the month, at its Dec. 1 meeting. The next meeting will be held on Jan. 5. Editor announces staff changes at Daily Pilot The Daily Pilot will see a number of staffing changes take effect beginning today, including the addition of a new assistant city editor and Forum page editor, Editor Tony Dodero announced.

TONY DODERO I've written before how many of our talented staff writers, editors and photographers outgrow our newspaper and move on to bigger things. It's kind of the natural pecking order of journalism, though sometimes I feel like it's all backward. Community news is so important, at least in my estimation. But that's just the way of the world, I guess, and as is to be expected we've lost some good staffers of late, but the upside is that more talent is always waiting in the wings to fill the void.

INSIDE THE PILOT LIFE & LEISURE The resolution to get into shape or lose a few pounds is not so easily kept. ALSO: Four women from Newport Beach have an eye-opening experience on a trip to Thailand and Cambodia in this week's Travel Tales. See Page A5 COMMUNITY FORUM Greenlight Committee spokesman Phil Arst talks with City Editor James Meier about the performance of Greenlight candidates in the November election and the future of the committee and Newport Beach.

Brady Rhoades, a veteran journalist knowledgeable about the issues and personalities that make up the Newport-Mesa community, has been named the new managing editor of the Daily Pilot, announced Tony Dodero, the director of news and online. Rhoades has been both a writer and an editor and most recently assistant managing editor for the San Gabriel Valley newspapers, which includes the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star News and the Whittier Daily News. Prior to that, Rhoades was the city editor for the Newport Beach Light and Costa Mesa Breeze, the two weekly papers published by the Orange County Register.

The Daily Pilot asked former reporters and editors to share their favorite memories of covering Newport-Mesa. “Dick [Nall, my city editor] taught me how to write a straight-ahead news story. He’d invite me to his house at night or on weekends and give me tutorials. He was my first real mentor, and I loved him dearly for it. Even if, once every week or so, my biggest assignment of the day was to run down to City Hall, pay his parking tickets, and on the way back stop at the liquor store and buy some more cigars.

Kelly Parker has been named web editor for Times Community News (TCN) South. Parker, who joined TCN nearly five years ago, will oversee the online operations for the Daily Pilot , Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot , Huntington Beach Independent and OC Now . She will also manage the social media efforts of the group of newspapers owned by and inserted in the Los Angeles Times in Orange County. Parker most recently served as interim city editor for the Coastline Pilot and, prior to that, worked as page designer on TCN South's copy desk.

Los Angeles Times Community News (TCN) is planning an open house at the Orange County plant in Costa Mesa. The staffs of the Daily Pilot, Huntington Beach Independent and Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot are inviting readers, advertisers and community members to visit their respective operations from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. June 10. Readers will have the chance to preview the new Los Angeles Times Community News websites for the Orange County newspapers and...

It’s one thing to admire our beautiful community, but don’t you sometimes just want to record it so you can share it? You could always snap away with your camera phone, but it’d be a lot cooler if you knew what you were doing. Well, Ralph Velasco, who leads photo walking tours here and elsewhere, has you covered.   Tell us about your tours and background. I teach travel photography in a classroom setting throughout Southern California, and my students said that although they enjoyed the classes very much, they wanted to actually get out and shoot with me, as well, so I resurrected the idea of taking people out on walking tours to photograph in great locations, which I started developing back in Chicago, where I’m originally from.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the first in a two-part series on homelessness in Costa Mesa. The second half will appear next Sunday.   It was sometime during the afternoon when I started to get really nervous. The winter storm showed no signs of relenting. I might be outside all night. I had planned a couple of weeks before last Friday to go homeless in Costa Mesa for a night and I couldn’t back out. “You sure you don’t want to reschedule this?

Daily Pilot Director of News and Online and 20-year journalism veteran Tony Dodero has left the newspaper as part of the latest round of layoffs at the Pilot, it was announced this week. “The Daily Pilot is a very special newspaper, and I will be cheering from the sidelines for it to continue to exist,” Dodero said Tuesday. “It means too much for Newport Beach and Costa Mesa for it not to exist.” Daily Pilot Managing Editor Brady Rhoades has been named editor.

The Daily Pilot asked former reporters and editors to share their favorite memories of covering Newport-Mesa. “Dick [Nall, my city editor] taught me how to write a straight-ahead news story. He’d invite me to his house at night or on weekends and give me tutorials. He was my first real mentor, and I loved him dearly for it. Even if, once every week or so, my biggest assignment of the day was to run down to City Hall, pay his parking tickets, and on the way back stop at the liquor store and buy some more cigars.

Brady Rhoades, a veteran journalist knowledgeable about the issues and personalities that make up the Newport-Mesa community, has been named the new managing editor of the Daily Pilot, announced Tony Dodero, the director of news and online. Rhoades has been both a writer and an editor and most recently assistant managing editor for the San Gabriel Valley newspapers, which includes the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star News and the Whittier Daily News. Prior to that, Rhoades was the city editor for the Newport Beach Light and Costa Mesa Breeze, the two weekly papers published by the Orange County Register.

TONY DODERO I've written before how many of our talented staff writers, editors and photographers outgrow our newspaper and move on to bigger things. It's kind of the natural pecking order of journalism, though sometimes I feel like it's all backward. Community news is so important, at least in my estimation. But that's just the way of the world, I guess, and as is to be expected we've lost some good staffers of late, but the upside is that more talent is always waiting in the wings to fill the void.

Tony Dodero Robert "Bob" Barker, a veteran Orange County newsman who worked at the Daily Pilot for more than two decades as a reporter and copy editor, died Thursday after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 73. Barker began his journalism career as a sportswriter in 1957 at the Garden Grove Evening News, later doing stints at a number of newspapers as a copy editor, managing editor and news reporter covering county and city government, mostly in Huntington Beach.