Ragnar Carlson, who formerly worked as a staff writer and later news editor at the paper from 2004 to 2005, replaces Mindy Pennybacker, an environmental journalist who took over the alternative newspaper's reins in January, Pacific Business News reports. Carlson is no relation to Honolulu Weekly Publisher Laurie Carlson.
Newly named AAN assistant editor Shala Carlson (pictured), who was serving as Gambit Weekly's managing editor prior to Hurricane Katrina, has decided to return to Louisiana. "I think I just acted too quickly," Carlson says. "I believed I was ready to make a move, but I didn't anticipate how much I need friends and family and familiarity right now." AAN posted a help-wanted ad today for the newly reopened position.
Shala Carlson will take over as the association's assistant editor next week, replacing Ryan Learmouth, whose last day at AAN is this Friday. Carlson has worked for the New Orleans alt-weekly since 1998, and before that served stints as an editor at the Times of Acadiana in Lafayette, La., and an administrator for a Louisiana-based nonprofit organization. She has been living with her parents in Opelousas, La., since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last weekend.
