LAT and AP beat the pack on Sherrod follow-up

The LATimes and AP had stories a few days ago on how the decision-making went down at USDA during the Shirley Sherrod firing. The stories are based on information released through FOIA requests.

More than ever it's clear the folks at USDA were crazy. As for the White House role, there's still no evidence that they made this happen (no proof in either direction), though we know they complimented USDA on their fast response after Sherrod was forced to resign.

In any case, LAT Washington bureau gets credit for beating its competition on this. The paper and the bureau may be decimated, yet this still happens remarkably frequently.