http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/star-trek-3-on-pace-for-a-2016-release-will-have-more-klingons-and-less-jj-abrams-according-to-damon-lindelof Take it for what it is I suppose. Haven't seen Into Darkness yet, since it's not released here yet, so I'll get excited for this if and when I love STID.
Hm. I may be the only one, but I think JJ is quite talented. The problem is the screenwriters. Letting THEM direct? Really? Though maybe that's what they actually CAN do... cause writing it is not. The Island was ok-ish, but that's about it. Yes, M:I3 was a great one, but there they share writing credits with Abrams, who probably managed to rescue the project and managed to create a plot that actually makes sense.
I doubt Paramount/Bad Robot would give, what will essentially be a $200 million film, to a novice director.
Alex Kurtzman did a fine job directing People Like Us. However that was a character based drama and not a big budget space opera extravaganza so I'm not really sure he's qualified to direct Star Trek 3.
Writers aren't directors. They write stories and dialogues, they don't necessarily know how to frame a scene, the emotion in an actors face, or delivery of lines!