Bill Mann, the media writer for the Montclarion and other Hills Newspapers in Alameda County, wonders if Channel 2’s Leslie Griffith has become the Judge Crater of local TV news? He says her absence from the anchor desk since August is as much a mystery to her colleagues as it is to viewers of “The 10’O Clock News.” Mann points out that nobody really knew why Elaine Corral suddenly disappeared from the same anchor desk almost a decade ago. To this day, Corral won’t talk. Mann noted that on Corral’s last night on the air, the station’s general manager and attorney were in the control room “making sure she read from a carefully prepared script.” Mann says that budget cuts have made the Channel 2 newsroom a less happy place than it was back in the day, and he assumes Griffith shares that feeling. Meanwhlie, Griffith remains under contract to Channel 2 and everynight the co-anchor replacing her says “Leslie Griffith is off tonight.” [PPC, Oct. 25: Reasons given for Griffith’s exit from Ch. 2] [PPC, Oct 8: What happened to KTVU’s Leslie Griffith?]