Newsmakers

Staff changes, promotions and additions at Texas newspapers.

Josh Criswell
The Huntsville Item
HUNTSVILLE – Josh Criswell has been promoted to sports editor of The Huntsville Item, leading day-to-day overage of sports in Walker County.
He has covered the Sam Houston State University athletics beat and written features for the newspaper since 2018.
The appointment was announced by Editor Joseph Brown and Publisher Jake Mienk.
A Houston native, Criswell joined The Item as the assistant sports editor after covering sports in print, digital and on-air roles at various outlets. A 2016 graduate of DePaul University, he returned home to Texas after spending nearly two years overseeing digital content for AM 570 LA Sports in Los Angeles. His work has been featured by SportsCenter, Sports Illustrated and the Los Angeles Times Community News, among other outlets.

Michael Kormos
Athens Daily Review
ATHENS – Michael Kormos has been named editor of the Athens Daily Review.
Publisher Lange Svehlak announced the appointment, noting that Kormos has extensive experience in community journalism.
Kormos is a lifelong Navarro County resident and a graduate of Navarro College, where he earned a degree in multimedia technology. He is a 14-year veteran of the newspaper industry, starting with he Corsicana Sun in 2005 as graphic designer. He moved to reporting, then to assistant editor in 2013 and managing editor in 2016.
In addition, he was an instructor at Navarro College’s Corsicana campus from 2011 to 2014, teaching classes in digital publishing and graphics and web design.

Tim Howsare
Borger News-Herald
BORGER – Tim Howsare is the new editor of the Borger News-Herald with responsibilities for editing, writing, designing pages and posting content to the newspaper’s website and social media.
Most recently, Howsare was the assistant editor at the Amarillo Globe-News. Prior to that, he was an editor and writer at the Roswell N.M. Daily Record.
He is returning to his role as a community journalist working in the Texas Panhandle. From 2012 to 2014, he was editor of the Pampa News.
He has 25 years experience, having worked in Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, Texas and New Mexico.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he grew up in Northwest Indiana and graduated from Ball State University in Muncie.
He has won awards for news writing, investigative reporting, column writing and page design.
Howsare has been active in the communities where he has worked, including serving on the boards of directors for United Way organizations.

Keith E. Domke
The Boerne Star
BOERNE – Keith E. Domke is the new managing editor of the Boerne Star, coming from the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.
Publisher Jeff Para announced the appointment.
Domke has been in leadership roles in the community newspaper business throughout his 35-year career in seven states. A native of Indiana, he began his career in Kansas and has worked in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Wyoming and Indiana. He moved to Texas in 2016 when he became editor of the Blanco County News. He and his wife, Nancy, have family in the Blanco area as well as in Missouri.
Domke has earned dozens of newspaper awards through various state and regional press associations during his career. He has received multiple first-place recognitions in writing, headline writing, photography and design and was named Wyoming’s photographer of the year in 2008. He has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Taylor Nye
Sulphur Springs News-Telegram
SULPHUR SPRINGS – Taylor Nye has joined the Sulphur Springs News-Telegram as a reporter.
The appointment was announced by Jillian Smith, managing editor.
Originally from Austin, Nye graduated high school in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin to earn bachelor’s degrees in Latin American studies and biological anthropology. She is working toward a master’s in Latin American studies and public health with the University of Arizona. She is the granddaughter of the late Russel B. Nye, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer who headed the English department at Michigan State University for decades.
Nye has worked as a journalist in Arizona and Wisconsin, covering crime and breaking news, and was the managing editor for the student publication The Badger Herald. 

Russell Huffman
Mineral Wells Index
MINERAL WELLS – Russell Huffman has joined the staff of the Mineral Wells Index as sports editor.
Huffman has a background in photography and in broadcasting as well as community newspapers. As a student at Tarleton State University, he was photographer and later sports editor for the student newspaper. After graduation and service in the military, he returned to Texas to work for several community newspapers, including the Dublin Citizen and DeLeon Free Press. He also did freelance photography for Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, the Abilene Reporter-News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Stephenville Empire-Tribune and other newspapers. 

Nathan Giese
Plainview Herald
PLAINVIEW – Nathan Giese is the new sports reporter for the Plainview Herald.
Originally from Minnesota, Giese worked for the past three years at the Watertown Public Opinion in South Dakota. He is a graduate of South Dakota State University and spent time as a manager of the men’s basketball team there. He said he was drawn to Texas by stories of Texas football and for the promise of considerably less snowfall.
Alejandro (AJ) Lopez
The News of San Patricio
SINTON – Alejandro (AJ) Lopez is the new assistant editor for The News of San Patricio.
Lopez is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in professional writing. While a student, he served as co-news editor of UTSA’s independent newspaper, the Paisano. 

Thomas Leffler
The Fairfield Recorder
FAIRFIELD - Thomas Leffler is the new managing editor of the Fairfield Recorder.
Publisher Richard Nelson announced the appointment, noting that Leffler will also lend a hand with the Teague Chronicle, the Recorder’s sister newspaper.
Leffler is a 2018 graduate of Pennsylvania State University and gained experience working within the Penn State sports community, including covering the 2015 Big Ten Champion Women’s Cross Country team.
While growing up in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, Leffler first began writing blogs on basketball and professional wrestling while in middle school. He also wrote for the student newspaper while attending North Penn High School in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. He was a member of North Penn’s state championship cross-country team and was inducted into the school’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

Holly  McGonagill
Mount Pleasant Tribune
MOUNT PLEASANT – Holly McGonagill has joined the staff of the Mount Pleasant Tribune as a reporter.
A native of Mount Pleasant, she is a recent graduate of Texas A&M University-Commerce with a bachelor’s of science in communication studies. She is also a graduate of Northeast Texas Community College, where she worked on the student newspaper, The Eagle.
The appointment was announced by Leslie Brosnan, advertising manager.

Nicole Hart
Azle News / Springtown Epigraph
AZLE – Nicole Hart has joined the Azle News/Springtown Epigraph as a reporter with her main focus in the Azle area.
Editor Mark K. Campbell announced the appointment.
Is an author and she has published 10 novels. Although news reporting is different from her usual writing style, she said she is up for the challenge.

Reed Graff
Snyder Daily News
SNYDER – Reed Graff, a recent graduate of Texas State University, has joined the Snyder Daily News staff as sports editor.
“We’re excited that Reed has joined us and look forward to him bringing some fresh ideas to our sports coverage,” Publisher Bill Crist said in announcing the appointment.

Rebecca Strutton
Cass County Sun
LINDEN – Rebecca Strutton has joined the staff of the Cass County Sun as reporter.
The appointment was announced by Shawn Larson, publisher of the Sun and the Atlanta Citizens Journal.
A local resident, Strutton attended Texarkana College and is currently a student at Texas A&M University-Commerce. 
Larson said with Strutton on staff, the Linden office has reopened.

Alex Wukman
Fort Bend Herald 
and Texas Coaster
Veteran writer Alex Wukman has joined the staff of the First Bend Herald and Texas Coaster as a general assignment reporter covering the city of Richmond.
He began his career in the Houston area as one of the founding employees of Free Press Houston, a monthly entertainment, arts and politics  magazine. He later did general assignment reporting for the Temple Telegram and Cleveland Advocate, part of the Houston Chronicle.
He has also done free lance writing and is author of a travel guide to the Texas Gulf Coast.