Newsmakers

Promotions, additions and other staff changes at Texas newspapers

BRENDA POE
The Huntsville Item
HUNTSVILLE – Brenda Poe is the new editor of The Huntsville Item, Publisher Jake Mienk announced.
Poe comes to the Item newsroom with more than 20 years experience in the business as well as seven years in municipal government.
“Brenda understands our mission and is extremely well rounded. Her expertise in newspapers will bring The Item full circle from print to the advancement of digital news,” Mienk said.
Poe has been a member of the Huntsville and Walker County community for more than eight years.
She has worked many aspects of the newspaper industry, from lifestyles editor of the Sweetwater Reporter to beat reporter with the Brownwood Bulletin. She has experience in feature writing, news reporting, photography, design and pagination. Her resume includes advertising, classifieds, composition, photography, copy editing, digital multimedia management and more for not only newsprint, but for magazines, special sections and editions and web design and management.
Poe has seen the many changes that have happened in the news industry over the past 30 years and was instrumental in garnering awards for online web design, advertising designs and news stories from the Associated Press and Texas Community Newspaper Association.
“My focus is going to be on community news and reporting,” Poe said. “While the delivery of news has changed over the years with technology, one thing stands true — people just want to know what is happening around them and want to trust the source that is providing that information.”

ANN MILLER
Taylor Press
TAYLOR – Ann Miller has rejoined the Taylor Press team as general sales manager and lead marketing consultant for Granite Media Partners.
The appointment was announced by Jason Hennington, publisher.
Miller previously worked for the Taylor Press in 2015. She has nearly five decades experience in newspapers, including 18 years co-owning or managing community newspapers.
Her interest in newspapers goes back to her school years in Louisiana. She earned a bachelor’s degree in communications with a focus on journalism, advertising and public relations at the University of Texas - Pan American in 1995.
She started in professional newspaper advertising at the Atlanta Citizens Journal. Later, she and her husband became a newspaper team in Vivian, Louisiana.
Her newspaper work in Texas has won multiple awards from the Texas Press Association, including sweepstakes.
She said she is looking forward to working in the Taylor community again.

ZACHARY-TAYLOR WRIGHT
The Boerne Star
BOERNE – Local native Zachary-Taylor Wright has been promoted to managing editor of the Boerne Star.
Wright, a graduate of Boerne Champion High School, attended San Antonio College where he garnered several regional, state and national awards for his work on the college newspaper, The Ranger.
He returned to Boerne and started work as government reporter for The Star two years ago. In addition to government agencies, he covered law enforcement activities and district court.
In September, The Star moved to an e-edition only on Wednesdays and a weekend print paper that includes high school football.
Wright said he is dedicated to continuing the tradition of quality local news coverage that readers have come to expect while also taking the newspaper in new directions that embrace emerging platforms.
Thomas Edwards, executive editor for The Star’s parent company Granite Media Partners, praised Wright’s experience in covering different subjects in Boerne, noting “he also has deep ties to the city and an understanding of Boerne’s history and culture.”

MADI TELSCHOW
Dripping Springs Century News
DRIPPING SPRINGS – Madi Telschow, staff reporter for the Dripping Springs Century News, has been named the newspaper’s newest editor.
General manager and interim editor Dalton Sweat made the announcement, noting that “Telschow has proven to be a strong journalist who is passionate abut the community she covers” and “willing to step up anywhere she is needed.”
Telschow joined The Century News in the summer of 2021, coming to Dripping Springs from Texas A&M University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English with minors in communication and journalism. While a student, she worked as an editorial assistant for Inside Brazos Valley magazine.

MATT FAYE
Beaumont Enterprise
BEAUMONT – Matt Faye has been promoted to sports editor of the Beaumont Enterprise after five years reporting sports for the newspaper.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Faye joined the Enterprise staff in 2017, a few months after graduating from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with emphasis on sports reporting.
Although he was hired as a sports reporter, he helped cover the impact of Hurricane Harvey on the Texas coast for his first month on the job.
Faye said he has especially enjoyed covering Southeast Texas high school football seasons, including the 2018 season when West Brook High School and Newton High School went to their state football championships. 
He also enjoyed covering Lamar University’s football team going to the playoffs for the first time that same year.
He said he looks forward to the challenge of running the sports desk and responsibility for the sports section.

KATHRYN CARGO
Port Aransas South Jetty
PORT ARANSAS – Kathryn Cargo, a former reporter for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, has joined the news staff at the South Jetty.
She replaces David Webb, who came out of retirement to work at the South Jetty and now has returned to his home in Dallas.
Cargo comes with three-and-a-half years’ experience at the Caller-Times covering city government and business development. She told the stories of Coastal Bend communities and how they were impacted by local issues, national trends and government decisions.
Prior to coming to Corpus Christi, Cargo spent three years at the Victoria Advocate covering breaking news, business and agriculture.
Cargo grew up in Alpine and earned a bachelor of arts degree in communication with a focus on journalism from the University of Texas at Arlington. There, she was a reporter for The Shorthorn, the university’s student publication featuring a daily digital news operation and a weekly print edition. As a student, she earned internships at the Caller Times and at her hometown newspaper, the Alpine Avalanche.
Also as a college student, Cargo was a news reporter for the university’s radio station, producing radio news stories each week.
Cargo’s work has produced awards, among them a first place First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for business news, first place for business reporting and second place for deadline writing by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors.
South Jetty editor Dan Parker said Cargo covers Port Aransas City Hall and will tackle lots of other subject matter.

FERNANDO CASTRO
Elgin Courier
ELGIN – Fernando Castro has returned to write for the Elgin Courier after transferring from its sister newspaper, the Taylor Press.
Castro has more than 10 years of reporting experience, including more than two years as senior reporter at the Taylor Press and a previous stint with the Elgin Courier in 2017-18.
In his new role, he covers news pertaining to city government, local crime and emergency incidents, in addition to writing feature stories.
Castro grew up just outside of Chicago and earned his bachelor’s degree in mass communications with a focus in print journalism from Texas State University in 2007. Shortly afterward he attained his first reporting job with the Madisonville Meteor.
In addition to reporting, Castro also has ample experience in design. He has earned numerous accolades from the Texas Press Association and South Texas Press Association for his work in writing, design and photography.

NICOLE LESSIN
Taylor Press
TAYLOR – Nicole Lessin has joined the staff of the Taylor Press as a general assignments reporter.
The appointment was announced by Jason Hennington, Taylor Press publisher. She succeeds Fernando Castro, who joined the Elgin Courier staff.
Lessin has more than 20 years of writing experience. Originally from Brooklyn, she became a full-time reporter at the San Antonio Express-News, working for Thomas Edwards. Edwards is now executive editor at Granite Media Partners, parent company of the Taylor Press.
Lessin said she started doing public relations for nonprofit organizations and through her interactions with newspapers was prompted to go back to school and study journalism at San Antonio College.
She has experience covering hard news as well as writing features and human interest stories.

ARIANNA MORRISON
Star Local Media
COPPELL - Recent University of Arkansas graduate Arianna Morrison has joined the staff of Star Local Media, providing daily coverage for the Coppell Gazette, the Lakeside Journal and the Leader.
While a student, she was an editor and reporter for the University of Arkansas campus newspaper, the Arkansas Traveler. In addition to reporting, her future goal is to teach journalism at the college level.

SAM SCINTA JR.
Fort Bend Herald
ROSENBERG – Sam Scinta Jr. has joined the news staff of the Fort Bend Herald as a reporter.
Originally from Chicago, Scinta grew up in O’Fallon, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Kansas, where he started as a music major with plans to be a band director but later changed his major to journalism.
He began his career as a sports writer at his hometown newspaper, the O’Fallon Weekly. After two years there, he moved to the Northwest Signal, a daily newspaper in Napoleon, Ohio, where he covered high school sports. 
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Scinta worked outside the newspaper industry in real estate in Maricopa County, Arizona, before coming to Texas.