Dawn Wotapka

Here’s an update to our previous item about business news openings at The Associated Press: Several of the positions have been filled – though the hires don’t start for some time. SABEW friend Chris Roush posted the news on his Talking Biz News blog Friday.

The four hires “represent a significant increase in resources,” writes Hal Ritter, the AP’s biz editor. Read the entire message here.

Caitlin Hendel takes the role of health care team leader, working from Washington. She’ll give up her position as managing editor at the CQ-Roll Call Group, where she manages a team of 16 reporters and five editors. Hendel also spent time at Bloomberg News. She starts Aug. 30.

Matt Craft becomes a financial markets reporter in New York late next month. He has spent several years at Forbes magazine and Forbes.com since 2007, mostly covering the debt markets. His resume also includes being an editor at Institutional Investor News.

An interesting detail from Ritter: “Matt’s first job out of college was teaching algebra at a high school in Louisiana.” Examples of his writing are here.

Michelle Conlin becomes a real-estate reporter after Labor Day. She spent more than a decade at BusinessWeek, where she started the “working life” beat, focusing on workplace issues and trends. She’s another Forbes magazine alum. The magazine experience likely helped her win this enterprise gig.

On Twitter, Conlin writes: “My new job: Going to the Associated Press. Enterprise Reporter. Amazing new beat: Real Estate. Very Excited.”

Check out her bio here.

Pallavi Gogoi, a columnist for AOL Daily Finance, begins covering banking Sept. 8. She’s also worked at USA Today and BusinessWeek. She also has worked for Dow Jones, where this Biz Buzz columnist writes about housing.

Our previous blog item also mentioned an opening for an autos reporter. We’ll let you know who is chosen to drive that coverage.

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