Newsmakers

Promotions, new hires and other employment news reported by Texas newspapers and reported in the April 2025 edition of the Texas Press Messenger.

Brady Standard-Herald staff changes, new hire announced

BRADY – The Brady Standard-Herald announced several organizational changes, including the promotion of Amanda Howell to editor of the family-owned newspaper, the appointment of Holly Stewart as publisher, and the hiring of Charles Hodges as the newspaper’s reporter.

Howell has worked at the newspaper since February 1999.

A native of Brady, Hodges attended local schools. He served in three branches of service, the U.S. Marine Corps (1992-97), the U.S. Navy (1999-2003) and the U.S. Army National Guard (2004-2006). He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, having deployed to the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf on the USS Abraham Lincoln  and participated in combat operations at Camp Al Taqqadum, Iraq.

After years of working as a truck driver in the oil and gas industry, he returned to Brady in 2022. 

He owns Heart of Texas Dawgz Mobile Vending and Catering. He is also a 2025 McCulloch County Chamber of Commerce Director and serves on the Heart of Texas Historical Museum board.

James Stewart, who served as editor and publisher of the Brady Standard-Herald for more than 25 years, was appointed city manager by the Brady City Council in February. He has decades of civic and community involvement and previously served the city as mayor and a member of the city council. With his city appointment, he relinquished his position with the newspaper.

Uvalde Leader-News welcomes new editor, reporter to staff

UVALDE – The Uvalde Leader-News has welcomed two people to its editorial department following the recent departures of Melissa Federspill and Sofi Zeman.

Uvalde native Kaitlyn G. Alejandro joined the news team as a general assignment reporter.

David E. Mercado, formerly of Houston, is the newspaper’s local news reporting fellow. He is covering public schools and education along with general assignments.

Alejandro graduated from Uvalde High School in 2022, earning an associate degree from Southwest Texas College through UHS’s early college program. She earned a bachelor’s of arts in May 2024 from Texas A&M University-San Antonio, where she studied English and literature.

Mercado graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in journalism and has previously written for Community Impact Magazine. He is an alumnus of NPR’s Next Generation Radio. Before working in journalism, he served two years as an AmeriCorps member working in education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Federspill, who earned numerous news and feature writing awards during her six-year tenure at the Leader-News, left her post as assistant managing editor to become managing editor of the San Antonio Business Journal.

Zeman, the newspaper’s Report for America corps member, left in December to be closer to family. She will begin a new reporting role in April at the Kansas City Star.