Charles L. “Chip” Babcock of Jackson Walker law firm was named chairman of the Texas Supreme Court Rules Advisory Committee, a rule-making policy body selected by the court. Jackson Walker is an associate member of TPA and a media law firm.

--

John Bowers is the new general manager of the Nueces County Record Star. Bowers most recently, served as advertising director at the Aransas Pass Progress and The Ingleside Index.

--

Brian Brisendine, publisher of the Hereford Brand, and his wife Susan, welcomed a new baby boy, Blake Richard, to their family. Lynn Brisendine, publisher of the Brownfield News, and his wife Linda are grandparents again.

--

Jaime Castillo, a veteran political writer and editor for the San Antonio Express-News, has been named the newest Metro columnist. He had been a political editor and Saturday columnist since 2003 and started with the paper in 1996.

--

Alison Draper, is the new publisher of Quick, the free weekday quick-read from The Dallas Morning News. Draper will oversee all operations of the publication and its Web site. She comes to Quick from a 14-year career at the Dallas Observer, where she was most recently publisher for more than four years.

--

Curtis Elliott has begun duties as a staff writer for the Brownwood Bulletin. Elliott worked as a full-time accountant for almost 20 years, but he has been a freelance sports reporter at night specializing in high school sports since fall 2000.

--

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram captured the only Triple Crown for over 250,000-circulation newspapers in judging by the Associated Press Sports Editors. The Star-Telegram won Top 10 honors in three categories: daily, Sunday and special section.

--

Armando Garza has been promoted to managing editor of the San Benito News. Garza has been with the News since early 2004 when he began as a freelance writer. He later became the newspaper’s staff writer and deputy editor.

--

Kat Gicante is a new reporter to the Petersburg Post. She had been a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines for 14 years.

--

Brad Harrington stepped down as editor and publisher of The Vindicator in Liberty to pursue other career opportunities. Harrington came to Liberty in 2000 and will be working as general manager for Espenlaub Operating Inc., an owner-operator of multiple McDonald’s restaurants.

--

Alyson Henigan, news editor of the Boerne Star, is engaged to be married in November to Caleb Chapman, who is an ad salesman and reporter for the Dublin Citizen.

Graphic designer Rachel Wiseman also announced her engagement to Jason Schulz. They plan an Oct. 7 wedding.

--

The Houston Chronicle’s advertising division named two vice presidents Todd Neal and Ken Whitfield. Neal is vice president in classified advertising and Whitfield is vice president in display advertising.

Neal has served as the Chronicle’s classified advertising director for the past two years and started in 1988 as an account executive in retail advertising.

Whitfield has served as the retail advertising director for the past year. Previously, he was vice president of advertising for Newsday and held various advertising leadership positions during a 17-year career at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

--

Maurice “Buddy” King is the new publisher of the Texarkana Gazette and president of Palmer Newspapers, a division of WEHCO Media Inc. King has been general manager of the Gazette for 17 years.

--

Andy Obermueller has joined the Amarillo Globe-News as business editor. He has worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Colorado Springs Gazette and the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger.

--

“Road, River, and Ol’ Boy Politics: A Texas County’s Path from Farm to Supersuburb” by Linda Scarbrough has won the 2006 National Council on Public History Book Award for the best work published about or growing out of public history. The award will be presented to Scarbrough in Washington, D.C. on April 21. Scarbrough is co-publisher of the Williamson County Sun.

--

Sharon Roosevelt has joined the editorial staff of the Fort Stockton Pioneer. She has worked as a correspondent for the San Angelo Standard Times and Odessa American. She has owned and operated a book store for the past year.

--

The Texas Daily Newspaper Association announced several awards at its annual conference last month.

Wesley R. Turner, president and publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, received the 2005 Pat Taggart Award for Texas Newspaper Leader of the Year.

Donnis Baggett, publisher and editor of The Bryan-College Station Eagle, received the 2005 Mayborn Award for Community Leadership.

The 2005 John Murphy Award for Excellence in Copy Editing was awarded to Vic Odegar, lead copy editor at The Beaumont Enterprise and a two-time winner of the award. Odegar has been on The Enterprise copy desk since 1994.

Brice Cherry, sports columnist for the Waco Tribune-Herald, was presented with the 2005 Fred Hartman Excellence in Sportswriting Award. He joined the sports staff in 1998.

TDNA “Bright Idea” Awards included under 10,000 circulation category New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung “Our New Blog;” 10,000 to 35,000 circulation category Bryan-College Station Eagle “Come on Home;” and co-winners over 100,000 circulation category Austin American-Statesman “Punt, Pass, Click” and The Dallas Morning News/Quick “Quick/Maverick’s Wedding Promotion.” 

--

Linda Schmocker joined The Sealy News as an editorial assistant on Feb. 21. She is selling sig pages and helping out with typesetting and tearsheets.

--

Joy Stephenson retired from The Navasota Examiner. She came to the paper 12 years ago and had written a column for 20 years prior to that.

Tracy Hamilton joined the Examiner staff, building classified pages and special sections and solving information technology problems.

--

Two Texas photojournalists captured honors from the 2006 National Headliners Awards. In photography portfolio, second place went to Melissa Phillip of the Houston Chronicle, and third place went to Matt Rourke of the Austin American-Statesman. Phillip also won third place in hurricane coverage.