People & Places.

At the St. Petersburg Times in late July, Robert Hooker was named deputy managing editor and Tim Nickens, the newspaper's political editor, was named metro editor. Hooker, a 30-year employee of the Times, served as metro editor for the past five years. As deputy managing editor, he supervises investigative projects and leads recruitment efforts with an emphasis on drawing minorities. Nickens succeeds Hooker as the Times' metro editor. Nickens has covered Florida journalism for nearly two decades, including seven years on the governor and Legislature beat in Tallahassee, first for the Times and then for five years with The Miami Herald's capital bureau. In 1995, he rejoined the Times as an editorial writer and then became political editor.

Tom FitzGerald, sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, was reinstated July 25 after serving a one-week suspension without pay for using material from other publications without proper attribution. FitzGerald also publicly apologized to his readers in the Chronicle sports section July 26. FitzGerald, who joined the Chronicle staff in 1983, has written his Open Season column since 1989. In mid-July, FitzGerald was suspended after a reader reported to editors …