One of our favorite bloggers is joining latimes.com. Veronique de Turenne, who writes under K-Rod's banner at LA Observed, is joining former LAist.com editor, Tony Pierce, to help beef up the news blogs at latimes.com.

According to the memo (which you can read below):

In her new position she will work closely with reporters, editors and the Web team to create a new kind of local coverage for latimes.com in the form of a fast-paced local news blog. The blog is still in development and will be launched early next year.

Veronique was kind enough to answer a few of our dumb questions:

1. What will you be doing on the site that is different than what you do for LAO and your own blog? I'll be blogging the local news -- anything and everything that has to do with Southern California.

2. What direction do expect news blogs to take in general, and at the LAT in particular? I think we'll be seeing a lot more live-news blogs on newspaper web sites. Information on demand -- the Times is on the leading edge with this. Put someone like Tony Pierce in the mix and you're talking smart and fun and crazy innovations.

3. Will you be working from home or are they bringing bloggers into the newsroom? A bit of both. I've always loved the energy in a newsroom, especially at the city desk, and can't wait to see how it'll filter through to the blog. But the reality is, you can blog from anywhere -- home, a cafe, a local library, Dodger Stadium, city hall, a park bench. I'd love to expand on that and blog from everywhere.

Congratulations, Veronique!

Here's the memo about the hires:

The Los Angeles Times has made key editorial appointments designed to bring in-depth knowledge from the blogosphere to latimes.com. Tony Pierce, former editor of LAist.com, has been named blog editor. Veronique de Turenne, currently a blogger for LA Observed and a freelance journalist, will be the lead writer for a local news blog to launch in 2008.

"We have tapped strong local talent to help us continue to move the site forward," said Meredith Artley, executive editor of latimes.com. "Tony and Veronique's unique voices and innovative ideas are going to be integral as we build an interactive site and service worthy of this diverse region."

Pierce will be responsible for The Times' popular blog operations, leading the effort to improve and expand existing blogs and launching new blogs using both in-house talent and voices in the community. In addition, his responsibilities will include latimes.com user-focused content, from reader chats and discussions to photos and video in the popular "Your Scene" area of the site. At LAist.com, Pierce quadrupled traffic to the site in a year with the launch of features such as the well-received "Neighborhood Project," posts of restaurant reviews and coverage of hot topics such as sports, transportation and music.

De Turenne has made a name for herself in various local media, including writing for The Times' state desk, the Book Review section and other areas of the paper since 1990, serving as the book critic on NPR's "Day to Day" program and writing on the front page of LA Observed, as well as her own blog on the site, "Here in Malibu." In her new position she will work closely with reporters, editors and the Web team to create a new kind of local coverage for latimes.com in the form of a fast-paced local news blog. The blog is still in development and will be launched early next year.