Last week, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced that the company plans to close or find partners for 400 of its 900 Patch local-news websites. It has not yet been announced which of the sites would be shut down, but the Culver City and Venice/Mar Vista Patch sites have both posted open letters to Armstrong on behalf of their readers pleading for them to continue. 

Meanwhile, last friday, August 9th, the Culver City News unceremoniously sacked its managing editor, Lori Fusaro. I've worked with Lori for a while now, and I admired what she was able to accomplish practically singlehandedly and with a very limited budget. Makes me wonder what the News is thinking...