All is forgiven. The LA Times in 2006:
[Business columnist Michael Hiltzik] could no longer write credibly about duplicity in the business world. There’s no place, he said, for dishonesty under the Times banner.
The LA Times in 2008:
Michael Hiltzik, one of the paper’s most prolific writers and distinctive voices, will return to being a columnist for the Business section.
(Via Instapundit.)