Well, now it appears The Journal’s New York section is ready to throw itself into the dirty underbelly of the city’s nightlife!

The Journal has hired Marshall Heyman, a freelancer from Los Angeles who worked at W magazine, to shepherd the new coverage, sources said.

The section is expected to cover parties, nightlife, high society and events, sources said.

As far as the war with The Times is concerned, The Journal is clear to go! The Times did away with its gossip coverage four years ago.

But how will the broadsheet fare as it swims in the same waters as Page Six and Guest of a Guest? We watched The Times play around with this awkwardly, when it launched Boldface Names in 2001. The section was light on dish. It was relatively sober. There were lots of process stories about the difficulty of landing interviews! It lasted for five years, and Bill Keller and Joe Sexton pulled the plug in 2006.

Off the Record called Joyce Wadler, one of the Boldface Name veterans at The Times, to see if she had any advice. “Millions of years ago, when I did a lot of celebrity reporting, you could go out and hang out with Robin Williams for a few days,” she said. “There were no publicists! It was a happy time.”

By the time she wrote for Boldface Names, the press aides were out in force, and Ms. Wadler said going out was a tough, tough grind.

Any advice for The Journal or Mr. Heyman as the paper tackles the new beat? “I wish them well! Good luck,” said Ms. Wadler.

jkoblin@observer.com

Mr. Sexton, the paper's metro editor, told staffers on Monday that he would stay on as editor for the "foreseeable future." He said that he would like to find a new adventure within the paper, especially after serving in his current post for more than four years, but it would not be coming anytime soon.

Sources at The Times said Mr. Sexton needed to make the announcement because rumors have been swirling on the metro desk that he was on the verge of stepping down.

The implication of his message? "You don't want to be seen as a lame duck," said one senior editor.

In any event, it appears that his time as editor may be short-lived, but it isn't clear if that's a matter of months, or longer. The two internal candidates whose names come up most often as far as his replacement are Carolyn Ryan and Jodi Rudoren, the paper's deputy metro editors.

Certainly, it's an engaging time for Mr. Sexton. After nabbing a Pulitzer two years ago for taking down Eliot Spitzer, metro's most recent investigation has ended David Paterson's hopes for reelection as governor, and may have ended his career as well.

And don't forget that in one month, The Times will face some new competition. Sources at The Wall Street Journal say its new New York section will launch on April 12. As we've reported, it's currently armed with a $15 million budget.

jkoblin@observer.com

Here's the memo sent to the metro staff by metro administrative manager Gloria Bell, (Take a look how quick-to-the-point this note is; these days, explanations for these sort of cuts are pretty unnecessary).

Folks,

You all know how tight budgets have become. They are getting tighter. Because of that we have decided to cut all subscriptions to newspapers and magazines that come in from the news dealer. If you wish to read any of the tabloids or out of town papers, either purchase your own or share with co-workers who purchase them to read on their way to work.

Please note, too, that any subscriptions you have regularly purchased and expensed may not be reimbursed anymore. Please check with me before you pay for anything. Most periodicals, including the tabloids and other daily newspapers, are available online through Ebsco masterfile which you can get to through the Research Dept's web page.

Sorry about this but the money we spent on these papers can be put to better use like paying freelancers. As always, thanks for your cooperation and understanding.

Later, a follow-up note was sent out, with the subject line, "Good Suggestion."

Please put any newspapers or magazines that you care to contribute to our "share and share alike" system, on the cabinet tops that used to house the Metro stacks. Thanks.

That interview, and the weeks of tough coverage in The Times, was apparently a rallying cry for Joe Sexton's 'Metro' crew. Writes Mr. Smith:

It would be interesting to talk to that reporter about more recent coverage, however. There was the puff piece—a veritable 'Woman in the News' feature—written two days before Caroline suddenly bowed out, and the tough-to-believe bit about how Caroline dropped out because of her Uncle Teddy's illness—an embarrassing line of defense that came from the Caroline Kennedy camp, and has been roundly dismissed since.

Big as the house is, it was packed. Veterans like legendary rewrite man Bob McFadden, former Metro editor and current deputy managing editor Jon Landman, current staples like City Room wunderkind Sewell Chan and newcomers like court reporter John Eligon crossed the pretty porch and the threshold to receive their commemorative buttons. “B1!” the text on the black-on-white buttons read: the old page number of the dress page of the Times Metro Section.

This was like the house party after a wake. On Monday morning there would be no “B1” Metro Section; in fact, no Metro Section at all, by that name at least. The reporting marshaled by Mr. Sexton was to move to the back of the A-section, after foreign and national news and under the heading “New York.”

Past the door, guests got a look at the bit of occasional interior décor Mr. Sexton had arranged: He’d covered the hallways with Metro front pages from throughout the years.

At a certain point in the living room, Mr. Sexton presided over a dance party—mostly hip-hop.

“He spent a good amount of time dancing,” said a staffer present. “He’s able to lose himself—for a guy who’s under so much pressure, he can lose himself admirably.”

Mr. Sexton is known for this: He was a big one for the dance floor the last night at The Times’ old headquarters at 229 West 43rd Street.

But that was a happy night: The Times was moving onward and upward, into its brand new building on Eighth Avenue!

This time?

“Like a child tending to a parent in late-life decline,” he wrote in an e-mail inviting staffers to his house, “i thought i’d do my best not to leave anything unsaid that needs to be said before oct. 6.”

It all turned around so fast this year for Mr. Sexton’s department.

In March, the Metro department scored a once-in-a-lifetime scoop: They took down Eliot Spitzer in two days, after they broke the story that he was involved in a sex ring.

But since, Metro has lost more than any other department in the building; they took a hit in the 100 job cuts the paper exacted earlier this year; they’ve been forced to virtually close their bureaus in Jersey, Long Island, Westchester and Connecticut. And then late this summer, the Metro team learned they would lose their stand-alone section for six days a week (sports will merge with the business section four days a week).

If that weren’t enough, the paper is about to begin revamping copy flow—the process of when and how stories get from reporter to editor to copy editor to design editors to your hands—and new and earlier deadlines are being put in place as a result.

It’s a large undertaking, and, not surprisingly, Metro is the first department that has been assigned to implement the new rules.

On the same day, Oct. 6, that Metro lost its display front, Mr. Sexton (who one staffer described as the “Jim Cramer of our department,” a guy getting used to delivering bad news) wrote a memo to staffers informing them that new deadlines were being put into place.

“it’s with some embarrassment that i concede this has been done before,” he wrote. “implemented by metro editors as serious about the issue as me. and then again by me. it never much stuck.

“the simple truth is,” he continued, “we don’t have any more time or excuses. it’s no b.s. overstatement to say our collective future depends on meeting such an elementary, if demanding requirement.”

jkoblin@observer.com

And here's Metro's new placement—renamed "New York"—on A21.

Today is the first day that the Metro section merged into the A-section; it comes after Foreign news and National news. Tomorrow, Sports will merge with the Business section.

Read our earlier coverage of the Times' section consolidation.

Here's Keller's e-mail to the Metro team from today:

In some ways, the memo almost feels like an obituary—a sad goodbye, but remember the good times! And the "afterlife," which they'll be kicking off with a dance party, will be even better. Mr. Sexton writes:

According to newsroom sources, the Metro Section is moving into the A-section and the Sports section will move into the Business section for some portion of the week.

The move is being made to save money on printing. According to one newsroom source, neither metro editor Joe Sexton nor sports editor Tom Jolly was "thrilled with the decision, but they understood."

According to the source, no content will be lost in either section. And though the placement of both Metro and Sports will be affected, the section consolidation will apparently allow for later deadlines for some days, and allow for the possibility of more breaking news in the paper.

After explaining that the Times' stellar local reporter David Kocieniewski would stay on the Jersey beat—presumably when Mr. Sexton isn't busy assigning him to investigative pieces on Charlie Rangel's real-estate ownership—he lays out Metro's future "pledge" to Jersey, Connecticut, Westchester and Long Island now that the bureaus have been emptied out.