Today, the New York Times' Clark Hoyt used his Public Editor column to address the recent shitshow and rumors surrounding the Times' forthcoming story on New York governor David Patterson. And Bill Keller interestingly called us out in it.

The pressure of financial woes at the New York Times must be getting to its Metro editor Joe Sexton. (That's him, dancing to hip-hop on the last day in the paper's old W. 43rd Street building last year.) Remember, his section is the one they're planning to consolidate with sports. His most recent memo takes comfort in a bought-out Des Moines journalist's farewell speech. The Bible is involved!

Were you reading the Times this morning, wondering why there weren't more sexual stories up in there? Were you thinking some sex would fit particularly well in the metro section, squeezed between reports on rent control for VIPs, that Harlem neighborhood photographer and that guy who died in the triathalon? Well, then, you're in luck, because Joe Sexton (ahem), leader of the metro section's scoop ninjas, is saying the paper will likely deliver more discourse on intercourse. Apparently their Eliot Spitzer hooker exclusive was just the beginning! Here's what Sexton wrote on the Times website today, responding to a question about the newspaper's plans to expand New York City coverage:

Things are a little awkward at the New York Times lately. The 'McCain possibly maybe having an affair' story was a flop, they just lost all-star critic Kelefa Sanneh to the New Yorker and their foremost legal expert, Linda Greenhouse, is taking a buyout. But if the Spitzer story has taught us anything, it's that hookers are a waste of money and that the New York Times' Metro desk is becoming the paper's (unlikely) best asset in this new new media battlefield.

Capitalization-averse Times Metro head Joe Sexton has shared the happy news: Times reporter Jodi Rudoren and her comedian husband Gary are the proud new parents of twins! Sexton notes in the office memo that he doesn't think "they have settled on names. but i believe jodi has backed off her naked effort at career advancement and decided not to go with bill and jill." (That's Times boss-folk Bill Keller and Jill Abramson. Funny, creepy, or funny-creepy? Hard to tell!) Anyway, while we know that the Rudorens have plenty of expertise when it comes to choosing names, we thought we'd all pitch in and put together a list of suggestions? We'll go with Dillinger and Gingerly. Your thoughts? Full memo follows.

We hear that Hollywood reporter Sharon Waxman, who's been based in Los Angeles for years (before her stint at the Times, she wrote for the Washington Post from the West Coast), will definitely be joining Joe "Private Dancer" Sexton's Metro desk when her book leave is over later this year. (Until now, Sexton had not committed to taking her on.) We've heard (from a single source) that Waxman will be on the religion beat. Her current editor, Culture honcho Sam Sifton, said he wouldn't comment on personnel matters, to us "or to anyone else." Waxman responded via email from Cairo, where she is doing research on her book: "I have no comment because Gawker has not shown itself to function by accepted journalistic rules."

Now that every department at the New York Times has moved into the new building, you're probably wondering where everyone has gone! So let's go floor-by-floor, shall we? And as we work our way up, we'll see who really matters in the Times organization.

Joe "Private Dancer" Sexton sent out a memo to his Metro staff this morning about City Room, the new blog headed up by Times favorite son Sewell Chan. Things are going swimmingly! Except it seems that some reporters need more than a gentle nudge to start contributing: "Expect that Sewell and Patrick and Jim and Lexi and I will be reaching out to you. We need breaking news updates; supplemental material that didn't make its way into the paper; off-the-beat observations and anecdotes; links to primary sources like Web pages and PDF's that can help the reader who wants more context; and more. Sometimes it's as simple as a phone call or email to us." (Wonder how the union feels about all that?) But Sexton, unlike Rick Stengel over at Time, hasn't resorted to threatening his reporters if they don't contribute to the website. Yet. The full memo follows.

In May of 2006, New York Times Metro editor Joe Sexton—you remember him as the guy who so unreasonably begged his reporters to come into the office once in a while and be nice to him—announced the appointment of Jennifer Preston as the editor of the new Regional Weeklies at the Times. It sounded like Preston was going to singlehandedly save not only the Times Regional editions, but possibly all of print media; Sexton described her as a "true New York Times patriot," someone who was "irrepressible, unconquerable, utterly loyal." Now Sexton has sent a memo to the newsroom that says he's becoming more active in recruiting writers in the sections.

Seems as though not everyone on the Metro desk possesses the same alacrity of mind, and typing skills, as the recently departed Sewell Chan. (Departed for NYT blog-land, that is! Not departed-departed.) Anyway, things have gotten so bad that Metro Editor Joe Sexton was inspired to send out a memo to his underlings outlining his discontent. The subject was in all caps—DO NOT TRASH THIS—but the post itself? All lower-case! We have a friend who says that when a guy writes you in all lower-case letters, it means he's trying to get in your pants in a non-threatening way (crafty!), so we can only imagine what Joe Sexton was thinking when he sent this out.

Yesterday, as the news of the Pulitzer Prizes drifted out into the media, the mood at the New York Times was relatively somber. True, the paper had won a prize, for Andrea Elliott's series on an imam in Brooklyn, but had not turned up as the winner in any other category—which, for a paper that's grown accustomed to multiple awards over the years, must have been a bit of a sting. In fact, it kind of was. In a speech to the newsroom after the awards were announced, Bill Keller had the following to say: