Just in time for the release for the latest version of iTunes with podcasting support, the Chron has released Chronicle Podcasts.

What’s a podcast? You can check out a quick primer at ipodder.org. Basically, podcasts are like radio shows for your iPod or other digital music player.

Chron podcast topics include local news, opinion and food (I hereby dub foodie podcasts “FoodCasts”). It’s a great way to get your dose of local news and culture on your daily commute.

cd adds:

One of the first available casts is a talk with Alicia Parlette a Chronicle copy editor and writer, about her series on her battle against a rare form of cancer.

If you didn’t read her compelling, 7-part series, you really should. The challenges she faces would be frightening even if Alicia were what most people think of as a cancer patient: someone older, someone who’s had a chance at forty or sixty good years. But Alicia is only 23 years old. Unfair.