Monday, I celebrated the end of the Pioneer Press' reportorial hiring freeze by noting the imminent arrival of new Vikings beat writer (and Urban Meyer pisser-offer) Jeremy Fowler. But the Vikes slot isn't the only recent opening that needs filling.

When Jeremy Olson left for the Star Tribune in July, his health beat came open. Editor Thom Fladung says med-tech reporter Chris Snowbeck "approached us with an intriguing proposal to combine his coverage of the medical technology field and the business end of healthcare with the care-providing end of healthcare. Made sense to me, and Chris is a highly skilled, high-energy reporter. So, we did it."

Despite Snowbeck's gumption, is the net result one fewer news reporter?

"We didn't do it to save a position," Fladung says. "We're talking with internal candidates now about a position created in the wake of these moves. Once that plays out, we'll likely post that position internally. You get the process. And so on until we end up going outside for a hire."

In other words, after the internal game of musical chairs has played out, Olson's replacement will be hired for whatever seat is vacant. When I asked Fladung if the outside hire was only a possibility, he responded that there was "less equivocation" than that. Good.

Obviously, there will be a delay staffing back up — this also happens at the Strib, which has been in hiring mode for awhile now — and it saves a few short-term bucks. But in the end, it sounds like the news side is, like sports, unfrozen. That's one step closer to staffing up, though that day may be distant.

So what's the new slot? Sounds like the PiPress will be recreating the "urban life" beat once held by Laura Yuen and Alex Friedrich (both now at MPR), which will include St. Paul and suburban neighborhoods as well as Met Council issues. With all due respect to the health beat, I like seeing the PiPress throw another body at city-side news. Plus, with the Strib staffing up in Washington and Dakota counties, it makes competitive sense.