• The Wall Street Journal, Monday, October 3, 2011 10:51 AM

The Huffington Post Media Group says it surpassed 1 billion page views in August -- a milestone that Kara Swisher at All Things D marks with her best Dr. Evil impression: "HuffPo at one biiiilllliiion monthly page views." The AOL-owned property has also bought online grassroots platform Localocracy. "The price for the site, whose key execs will join the AOL content unit, is under $1 million," Swisher reports, citing a source close to the deal.

Meanwhile, The HuffPo also sad it was hiring Lisa Belkin from The New York Times to be a senior columnist covering parenting and family issues. "The latest hiring and purchase are part of a number of moves at the Huffington Post, which has been frantically expanding its offerings since it was acquired by AOL," Swisher adds.

"That now includes four more sections launching this week -- Huff/Post50; HuffPost Gay Voices; HuffPost Weddings; and HuffPost High School -- bringing the grand total of new sites to 21 since the Huffington Post officially merged with AOL in March."

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »