The staffers laid off from the LA Times last week weren’t the only ones losing their jobs. Some, like Randy Hagihara, director of the metro & summer internship program, took voluntary buyouts. Freelance budgets were slashed in multiple sections, meaning less work for struggling freelancers. We heard from Avital Binshtock, a regular contributor to the travel section, that her Tours & Cruises and Calendar columns were being killed. And we’ve spoken to other LA Times freelance contributors who are uncertain of their future with the paper and are, at this point, just keeping their fingers crossed.

Just when we thought we couldn’t hate Sam Zell any more than we already do.

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More names from yesterday’s layoffs at the LA Times have come out. Assistant Travel editor Jane Engle was let go. LA Observed has her goodbye memo. Sports columnist Jerry Crowe was also cut.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of yesterday’s horrible news was that the website of  the Times took some serious hits too. Blog editor Tony Pierce was let go as was web producer Kelsey Ramos-Conroy.

Much to the disappointment of Media Matters, we’re sure, Pierce’s pal Andrew Malcolm is still around.

LA Observed beat us to it, but we too got a hold of Pierce’s goodbye letter.

Posted after the jump:

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Andrew Kamenetzky and Brian Kamenetzky have left the Lakers Blog for a better gig at ESPNLA.com.

As some of you may already know, today marks our last day at the Los Angeles Times.com. After more than four years spent running and growing Lakers Blog, this was not a decision taken lightly. In the end, though, we felt it best to pursue new opportunities. We’re proud of the work we did at LAT.com and the site we leave behind.

Whole post is here.

Via Tony Pierce‘s Tweet

The L.A. Times, be it ever so humble, has decided to dictate what constitutes news in them thar parts. The Left Coast Grey Lady, uninterested in what the National Enquirer might break, announced that no one — not even bloggers, for gosh sakes — will be allowed to write anything about John Edwards and his philandering.

The news was unleashed late last week and Jim Romenesko, bless his muckraking heart, was able to locate the memo from Times editor Tony Pierce. The Times might take some lessons from the Enquirer, at least on breaking stories.

Click continued to see the email…

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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!

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Zach Behrens takes over for the departing Tony Pierce at LAist.

And today, there’s an interview with a chiropractor. End of an era.

The LA Times snatches up LAist Tony Pierce to run their 25 blogs. Pierce, with uncharacteristic tact, suggests he might change things:

Andy: So is this a new position for the Times?
Tony: From what I understand it is a new position. Currently Bettie Rinehart has been in charge of the blogs which have been built out to about 25 blogs on the Times. But it sounds like my job will be slightly different from what she’s been up to.

The departing Matt Welch was Pierce’s big cool pal at the paper (as well as one of the stronger online presences) and pushed Pierce to go for the gig.

Predictably, some in the blogging community aren’t thrilled by the news. (Although some are quick to suck up, hoping for work, perhaps.)

Meredith Artley is certainly kicking Times.com into the big leagues. And what’s next for LAist? Choire’s available, we hear.

Courtney Love has convinced punk shoe brand Dr. Martens to drop their ad campaign featuring her dead husband, Kurt Cobain. Corbis licensed the images to Saatchi & Saatchi for the campaign, and in the UK, didn’t need publicity clearance from deceased celebs. Translation: Love didn’t get paid. Tony Pierce grilled Kate Stanners, the Saatchi account exec. about the ads.

Love, whose good taste is legendary, complained that the use of Cobain’s image without permission is despicable.

Selling off his childhood possessions is not.

Use of Cobain’s music in CSI:Miami is not.

The ringtone contest is not.

Kurt Cobain, who shot himself in 1994, earned over $50 million last year.