Hurricane Irene Photo: NOAA

Hurricane Irene coverage is coming on as strong as the storm is. A state of emergency has now been declared in five states.

Jack Shafer and three other staff members have been laid off at Slate. Fellow journalists are not reacting favorably.

Jim Romenesko, Poynter’s popular media blogger, is going into “semi-retirement” starting January 2012. He’ll be launching his own site, JimRomenesko.com, and working part-time at Poynter. He’ll still be tweeting under his usual handles, and will continue with his other websites.

ABC News and plenty of other media outlets have announced their planned 9/11 coverage.

Bloomberg is acquiring BNA, a company that provides legal and regulatory research and analysis. The deal is worth $990 million and should close this year.

Thankfully, journalists held in the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli have been freed. CNN’s Matthew Chance offers a first-hand account.

More media moves after the jump.

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