Kristin Lombardi, a three-year veteran of the Village Voice (for younger readers, that means she came on during the Don Forst era; November 1, 2004, to be specific), was let go on Friday. A Voice spokesperson had no comment on the departure, but the fact that Lombardi, an investigative journalist, has had a grand total of one article published during new editor Tony Ortega's tenure may indicate that New Times' latest man on the scene is taking the paper in a less "advocacy journalism" direction. Which, for those of us who could give a damn about corruption in the box factories of West New York, can only be a plus.

Despite their management and merger woes, the Voice had its holiday party last night. A spy reports that things heated up with a sexy dance-off between columnist Tricia Romano, interim EIC Doug Simmons, photo ed Staci Schwartz, and some guy no one knew — Schwartz took all, but we're sure the no-name guy took home some sort of lady prize. Everyone loves the random dude.