A spy at the SABEW conference tells us Arthur Sulzberger Jr. spent much of his time at the Phoenix journalism event with a new companion. Meet Kathy Kristof, the latest rumored girlfriend of the New York Times publisher.

It's worth noting that the rumor mill is 1 for 2 on Sulzberger girlfriends, a fairly lousy track record. After the Times publisher announced his separation from his wife in May 2008, media wags gossiped he might be involved with his friend Caroline Kennedy; the Times denied this while avoiding comment on Sulzberger's dalliance with Helen Ward of Aspen, Colorado.

At SABEW—which stands for the Society of American Business Editors and Writers—our tipster tells us Sulzberger was especially "friendly" with Kristof, a columnist for CBS MoneyWatch, MSN and Tribune Media. Color us intrigued but skeptical — and hungry for more information. Do reach out if you've heard anything.

(Correction: This post originally said Kristof wrote for Dow Jones MarketWatch; in fact she writes for CBS MoneyWatch and won an award at SABEW for her consumer finance blog there.)