Tom Fontaine, who joined The Herald in 1999 and has been covering the Hermitage beat and politics, will become The Herald's courthouse reporter.

Sherris Moreira-Byers, who joined The Herald full-time in February 2000, will move into Fontaine's spot as Hermitage reporter. She will continue to cover Brookfield and Ohio areas until a replacement is named for that area.

In addition to county government and his job as political writer, Fontaine, who turns 27 on St. Patrick's Day, will cover portions of Greenville and other outlying areas.

He won a 2000 Keystone Press Award, given in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, for feature writing.

Fontaine is a graduate of Greenville High School and Kent State University. He was a pitcher for Kent and spent two years in the Baltimore Orioles' farm system.

Moreira-Byers is a graduate of Wilmington Area High School and a 1997 graduate of Westminster College. She had been a correspondent with The Herald for three years before she was hired full-time to cover the Brookfield beat. She also covers social services.

She lives in Wilmington Township with her 7-year-old daughter, Brytta, who is in second grade, and their 11-year-old cat, Lydia.