Meredith Viera joins Today

As rumored, Meredith Viera will replace Katie Couric at Today. NBC made the announcement today. Although I've never watched more than 5 minutes of The View (I'm not their demographic, anyway), I've been a big fan of hers since she was on West 57th in 1986.

Katie's announcement

Katie Couric made the announcement this morning on the Today Show. If you missed it at 7:30 this morning, you can see the video on the Today Show website.

Katie's going

Rumored for months, Katie Couric is apparently ready to make the jump to CBS where she will become the first woman to solo anchor a network's nightly newscast.

Howard Kurtz cites "well-placed" sources as confirming the deal may be announced soon.

This will set of a tsunami of changes everywhere, starting with the Today Show, where Katie could be replaced by Meredith Viera.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Gail Shister says the announcement will come by Thursday, "at the latest."

New Look at nytimes.com

The New York Times has a new look online. It is cleaner and prettier, but may take some getting used to. On the other hand, the fonts are easier to read and the tabs at the top of the page are nice.

Hammered!

No, I'm not referring to UCLA's crushing defeat in the NCAA basketball final. Rather disgraced former House majority leader Tom DeLay (aka "The Hammer") is dropping out of his re-election campaign and the House itself. Time magazine broke the news tonight.

DeLay's stunning downfall is the result of a series of arrogant overreaches and possible corruption. Reportedly he is dropping out because he was going to be beaten in his Texas re-election bid and because he doesn't want the Dems using him as a campaign issue.