The Abilene Reporter-News announced two staff changes. Jim Grahn is the new advertising director. He came from the publisher role at The Deming Headlight and The Silver City Sun-News both in New Mexico. Linda Wienandt was named managing editor. She came from the Rocky Mountain News in Denver where she was city editor. She also worked at the Austin American-Statesman in the early 1990s.

Miranda Bailey, former Pampa News managing editor and current local educator, participated in the American Society of Newspaper Editors High School Journalism Institute. The institute was held at five universities and is part of an initiative to revamp the scholastic press.

Crystal Brown is the new editor and reporter for the Sanger Courier. She came from the Weatherford Democrat where she started working while still in high school as a reporter and photographer. She attends the University of North Texas and is a photojournalism major.

Jimmy Brown, a columnist for several Texas newspapers, was critically injured in a one-car accident near Gilmer Aug. 6. He pens “Chunkin’ Rocks” for the Jefferson Jimplecute and other newspapers.

Annette Clifton joined the Panhandle Herald staff to replace Brenda Vermillion, who became a clerk for a local justice of the peace.

Mike Coggins, a former TPA board member, has returned to Texas as publisher of the Stephenville Empire-Tribune. He came from the general manager job at Evergreen Newspapers in Colorado and was publisher in New Mexico during his time out of the state. When he left Texas, Coggins was publisher of the Moore County News-Press in Dumas. He replaced Jim Stevenson who left for a position in Michigan.

Dan Cook last month was honored for his 50 years of service to the San Antonio Express-News. He still writes two columns a week and spent 44 years as sports anchor for KENS-TV.

Tammy Cruz is the new advertising manager of the Dalhart Daily Texan. She worked at two newspapers in Kansas.

Sandy Flora was named editor of the Pflugerville Pflag. She replaced Mark Loyd who relocated to Katy. Flora came from a Pflugerville city job.

John Hasselmeier is the new sports reporter for the Van Alstyne Leader. He has had stints at several Texas newspapers and has 15 years experience.

Karen Elliott House, who earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas and began her career at The Dallas Morning News, has been named a senior vice president and publisher of all print editions of The Wall Street Journal.

Frank Leto was named vice president/classified advertising for The Dallas Morning News. He had been general manager of design mail.

Dave and Cue Lewis stepped down from the Denison Daily Post, which was founded in April 2000 and became daily in June 2001. The Lewis’ ran the Celina Record and Little Elm Journal before selling to DFW Community Newspapers and joining the Post.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal won two American Cancer Society Texas Media Awards. Charles L. Ehrenfeld won first place in small dailies for a feature story on siblings who shared a bone marrow transplant. He also won second place news for a story on women and increased use of nicotine.

The Midland Reporter-Telegram announced two staff changes. Stewart Doreen was promoted to sports editor. He began at the daily in 1995 and was named assistant sports editor in 1997 but spent the last year as city hall reporter. Terry Williamson, a 30-year veteran, stepped down from many of his duties in the sports department after suffering a stroke in late March. He will continue working as a columnist.

The Monitor in McAllen announced staff changes and one retirement. Ray M. Stafford, publisher since 1994, has been promoted to executive vice president and general manager of The Orange County Register in Santa Ana, Calif. He will assume new duties Sept. 30 when he will take over day-to-day operations of the 360,000 daily. M. Olaf Frandsen, publisher of the Appeal-Democrat in Marysville, Calif., will replace Stafford and also will assume Stafford’s job as division vice president of Freedom Commun-ications Inc.’s Southwest region. Frandsen is a past editor of the Odessa American. Oscar Gonzalez Jr., who has been acting sports editor since May, took the spot permanently on Sept. 1. He has been on staff for five years. Audrey Eoff retired after seven years as Newspaper In Education coordinator. She was a longtime teacher and always used the newspaper as a tool in her classroom.

Troy Pennington rejoined The Grapeland Messenger as sports writer after a 20-year hiatus.

Gary W. Randazzo, the Houston Chronicle’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, joined the San Francisco Chronicle as vice chairman and associate publisher. Randazzo has worked at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and had been a publisher at The Huntsville Item and Conroe Morning News.

Charles Reis left the sports editor job at The Bay City Tribune for a non-sports position in Houston. Justin Daily, who has been on staff for more than a year, will take over as sports editor.

Carol Richtsmeier, a DeSoto High School teacher and newspaper advisor, was named a Special Recognition Adviser by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. She was honored for her work and the quality of the school’s Eagle Eye. She was named Texas’ Max R. Haddick Teacher of the Year and the newspaper was named the best in the Metroplex by The Dallas Morning News. Before teaching, Richtsmeier was a reporter for the Amarillo Globe-News and the Morning News.

Nathan Charles Sanders, a sports reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, married Michelle Renee Weed July 27 in Kingwood.

Craig Stark, former publisher of the Orange Leader, has accepted a position as general manager of the free weekly Mid County Chronicle, a Hearst publication. He has 29 years’ experience in newspapers.

Three San Antonio Express-News staff members have traded their jobs for the classroom. Kym Fox, the Metro editor and staffer since 1985, will spend the next year teaching at Southwest Texas State University. She still will spend one day a week in the newsroom. Kay O’Donnell, a copy editor in the features department, will join the faculty of the journalism program at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. Emily Robinson, a police reporter, will become journalism teacher at Harlandale High School.

Scott Tyler was promoted to sports editor of the Palestine Herald-Press. He came on board in April as sports writer. He replaced Larry McCarty who left for the editor position at the Newport (Ark.) Independent. He had been in Palestine three years.

Julie Hoelscher Weber was promoted to manager of MySanAntonio.com, the Web site run jointly by the San Antonio Express-News and KENS-TV. She had been acting general manager and has worked in the newspaper advertising department since 1987. She was the newspaper’s first online sales and marketing manager.

Pamela Wegner joined the Schulenburg Sticker as reporter. She graduated from the University of Missouri Columbia School of Journalism in May.

The Weatherford Democrat announced two new staff members. Darren Victory is the new editor. He has worked at several newspapers across the state and spent the last few years free-lancing. Sarah Wang is the new coordinator for NewPASS (Newspapers Aiding Students & Schools), the Democrat’s Newspaper In Education program.

Cathy Witherspoon is the new reporter at the semiweekly The Sealy News. She recently moved from Newport, Vt. where she was a reporter for The Newport Daily Express.