New Boston, Miami Bureau Chiefs For The Times

From giant, jumping, armor-plated sturgeon to the collapse of the Miami condo market, Abby Goodnough has chronicled the colorful spectacle that is Florida for four years. With an eye for the absurd and the momentous, she has shown how great national reporting can not only capture a sense of place, but also inform readers across the country about events and trends with national implications. Along the way, she covered eight hurricanes and produced a terrific three-part series with Monica Davey on the huge cost and apparent ineffectiveness of the civil commitment of sex offenders.

Now Abby is taking on a new region: New England. As Boston bureau chief, she will continue the great work done by Pam Belluck and bring her skills and enthusiasm to bear in a place that is a lot colder, but far less of a target for 160 mile an hour winds.

It will be Damien Cave's turn to stock up on bottled water and batteries. We are delighted to announce that when he finishes up his tour in Iraq early next year, he will join the National Desk as the new Miami Bureau Chief.

Even when he was a reporter trainee, Damien was producing memorable Page 1 stories on army recruiting. Every step of the way, he was ahead of the pack ­ in fact, for a long time he was the pack, writing about how the army was bending its eligibility rules and doling out bonuses.

He has proved no less intrepid in Baghdad. From Susan Chira: We will miss Damien a great deal in Baghdad, where he's been a first-rate correspondent and a collegial member of our bureau. He is at once lyrical and tough-minded, delivering a stream of great stories that include his moving account of a soldier's death and the impact on his comrades; a perceptive look at one Shiite lawmaker's hardening of heart and how that reflect Iraq's political paralysis; an original look at a Baghdad college graduating class; and incisive news analyses. He has also been a source of original thinking about how to use the Web and video to enhance our coverage, moderating a Q and A with readers that drew a huge amount of interest, to cite just one of his many brainstorms.