Rosenthal: WGN's Kap joins Trib as writer; Other hires at both Trib & S-T

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: David Kaplan, Don Dziedzina join Chicago Tribune as sports contributors; Sun-Times hires new Bears writer : : David Kaplan -- the host of Comcast SportsNet's "Chicago Tribune Live" program, a sportscaster for Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-AM 720 and a blogger with Chicago Tribune's ChicagoNow.com -- is coming to the print edition. : Kaplan (pictured right) is joining the sports section as a regular freelancer, teaming with Chicago Tribune columnist Fred Mitchell in what Mike Kellams, the paper's associate managing editor for sports, described in a memo to his staff Wednesday night as a re-imagined version of the section's Around Town column. : Kellams also announced the Tribune has added outdoors writer Don Dziedzina (left), another freelancer. A former contributor to Sun-Times Media papers who runs the Web site IllinoisOutdoors.com and hosts its television show, Dziedzina will contribute a weekly column to the Tribune and blog for ChicagoNow.com. : Like Kaplan, Dziedzina will make his debut in the paper within the next week. : Meanwhile, MinnPost.com has reported that longtime Minnesota Vikings writer Sean Jensen is leaving the the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press after Monday night's game with the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field to become the Bears beat writer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Jensen will replace Brad Biggs, who left earlier this month for the Tribune. : The new Around Town "will become a five to six days-a-week notes column running more frequently but in shorter, newsier bursts," Kellams wrote, noting the goal is for the column to be "the first place to read if you want to see who's up, who's down and who's moving around" in local sports. : Kaplan, WGN-AM's afternoon sports reporter since 1995 and host of its weeknight "Sports Central" program, added Comcast SportsNet Chicago's "Chicago Tribune Live" nearly three years ago. He also does various freelance play-by-play, analysis, anchor and reporter work. : : Previously, Kaplan was a host for WMVP-AM 1000, coached basketball for Northern Illinois University and scouted for the National Basketball Association's Indiana Pacers and the Seattle Supersonics. : Kaplan is the second local radio sports host brought in by the Tribune in recent weeks. The paper began running a weekly column by WSCR-AM 670's Dan McNeil on Dec. 4, the same day the Sun-Times later hired Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey.

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