WSJ hires reporter Lazo from LA Times

Michael Gray, the editor of West Coast news for The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following staff hire on Thursday:

We are pleased to announce that Alejandro Lazo (Alex to his friends) is joining the Journal’s West Coast bureau as a reporter covering politics and policy issues in state houses across the West, with special emphasis on Sacramento. He begins work on Monday, Oct. 21, and will work out of our San Francisco office.

Alex comes to the Journal from the Los Angeles Times, where he covered housing and the real estate market for almost four years. He previously wrote about commercial real estate and other business topics for the Washington Post, and did stints as an intern at Newsday and the New York Times, among other publications.

He’s a native Californian, from Modesto, and graduated with a degree in politics from the University of San Francisco. He has also earned two master’s degrees in journalism, with a focus on business and economics, at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Alex, who is a fluent Spanish speaker, also spent time studying abroad in Spain.

He has family in San Francisco, so has temporary quarters as he starts his new job, but thinks he’ll be looking for permanent digs in the East Bay – any helpful tips are welcome!