Kevin Roderick, editor and publisher of LA Observed, the preeminent portal of LA politics, has announced that he is hiring writers who will contribute to his blog.

“Starting now, LA Observed is a group effort. I invited about a dozen writers, journalists and observers of Los Angeles whose eye and voice I respect to think about posting here. Almost all of them jumped at the offer, to my amazement. More are on the way. For the three years that I have blabbered here solo I’ve always benefited from a richly informed and interesting retinue of email corresponders, collaborators and eggers-on. Now the collaboration comes out of the closet, so to speak.”

Some of the chosen (from a dozen names) include:

• Bob Baker : he runs the writing website newsthinking.com. He was a reporter and editor at the Los Angeles Times for 26 years before leaving in 2004 to become a novelist and songwriter.

• Cari Beauchamp: she is the author of “Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood.” She also edited and annotated “Anita Loos Rediscovered: Film Treatments and Fiction by the Creator of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and co-wrote “Hollywood on the Riviera: The Inside Story of the Cannes Film Festival.”

• David Davis the author of “Play by Play: Los Angeles Sports Photography 1889-1989” (Angel City Press). He is a contributing writer at Los Angeles Magazine and a contributing editor for the Amateur Athletic Foundation’s SportLetter. His writing has appeared in Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Business Journal and other publications. He lives in Highland Park.

Unchosen are such bloggers as “Here in Van Nuys”, “The LA City Nerd” and Cathy Seipp. Writers’ tears flow down the canyons today. Perhaps this will help the firefighters.