Yahoo! News continues to expand its journalism team. Virginia Heffernan joins as a national correspondent covering culture and politics from a digital perspective. She will also explore how our daily lives and decisions are shaped by emerging technology and behavior.

“We could not be more excited about Virginia joining the growing Yahoo! News team,” said Hillary Frey, managing editor. “Lots of us here are long-time admirers of her writing—from her earlier TV writing at Slate, to her work at The New York Times and beyond— so bringing her on is truly a thrill. No one understands the intersection of politics, video, technology and culture the way Virginia does.”

Prior to joining Yahoo!, Virginia wrote op-ed columns on digital culture for The New York Times. Prior to that, she wrote “The Medium,” a weekly column about Internet culture, for The New York Times Magazine.

“It’s a fascinating time in news, and Yahoo! is out front, leading the shrewdest, most inventive developments in digital media,” said Heffernan. “The company has hands-down the most intelligent concept of what news ought to mean now, online and everywhere. It’s a huge privilege to be working with such a talented team and I can’t wait to get started.”

She will be based in the New York City offices, reporting to Frey.

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Virginia Heffernan, former columnist for The New York Times Magazine, has a new position at the Times: starting Monday, she will “write regularly for the Opinion pages,” she told Adweek.

She also announced her new position over Twitter: “Some late Wednesday news: I’m going to the NYT’s Opinion pages. Excited.”

Heffernan, 41, was with the Times Magazine for four years until earlier this year, when new editor Hugo Lindgren decided to end her column, “The Medium.”

This news comes following several departures at the Times‘ Opinion pages, including Bob Herbert, who recently left to pursue other projects, Frank Rich, who left earlier this month for New York magazine, David Shipley, who left for Bloomberg’s new opinion venture, and editor Mark Lotto, who is leaving for GQ.

After heading up the “Questions For” page of The New York Times Magazine for eight years, Deborah Solomon has fallen victim to editor Hugo Lindren’s staff overhaul and is leaving the title.  Solomon joins former deputy editor Alex Star and “The Medium” columnist Virginia Heffernan as The NYT Magazine’s most recent departures.  Solomon discussed her next steps in a letter to The Observer.

My immediate plan is to devote myself to my long-overdue, almost-finished biography of Norman Rockwell, which will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. I had eight great years writing the column, and I have been encouraged by the paper’s top brass to continue writing for the paper. Naturally, I also plan to continue asking as many impertinent questions as possible.

The New York Times Magazine editor Hugo Lindgren took another step toward putting his stamp on the publication by parting ways with columnist Virginia Heffernan.  Originating on nytimes.com in 2006, Heffernan’s web-themed column “The Medium” will no longer appear in Lindgren’s mag.  “The Medium” transitioned over to NYT Magazine in June 2009 and showcased digital stories including top viral videos and popular mobile device apps.

Heffernan represents the most recent departure in a string of staffers that have parted ways with the magazine since Lindgren’s entrance in late October.  Alex Star vacated his post as deputy editor in December and now works with the Times Book Review.

Prior to joining The New York Times, Heffernan served as a television critic for Slate and co-authored The Underminer with Mike Albo.

He may be banned from all 29 Jeffrey Chodorow restaurants, but the Penthouse Club welcomes Frank Bruni with open, uh, arms

It’s no secret the New York Times‘ much lambasted food critic Frank Bruni is said to be gay. And he’s rather out about it in today’s piece from the Penthouse Club, in which he and some buddies go to sample the steak while, he says, being less susceptible to other pleasures of the flesh. Still, he does sample a desert known as a “buttery nipple”:

“It involves one of the women straddling your lap, tilting your head back, pouring a combination of Baileys Irish Cream and butterscotch schnapps down your throat, and squirting Reddi-wip into your mouth. It costs $20 in cash. Note to the newspaper’s expense auditors: I don’t have a receipt.”

Meanwhile, in a review of not food but TV, Virginia Heffernan tells us that American Idol‘s Paula Abdul has a “mom I’d like to sleep with” vibe.

We’re blushing.