The Times was familiar territory to Barrs he spent nine years at the venerable daily before coming to New Times, and was a member of a city-desk team that won twin Pulitzer Prizes for the Times’ coverage of the 1992 riots and the 1994 earthquake. As “The Finger,” Barrs exposed the Staples Center scandal, in which the Los Angeles Times agreed to share advertising revenue with the owners of the sports and entertainment complex. In addition to managing an award-winning group of writers and editors at NTLA, Barrs wrote the nationally recognized column “The Finger,” a provocative mix of stylish prose and old-fashioned muckraking known for breaking news and busting heads. The paper’s new editor-in-chief is Rick Barrs, formerly the lead editor at New Times Los Angeles. New Times Newspapers today announced the hiring of two new editors and the promotion of a third at its flagship paper in Phoenix.