One of my greatest satisfactions sitting behind the editor’s desk was appreciating the newspaper had a pulse of the community. Credit extended beyond the newsroom; all employees served as our collective eyes and ears. 

By JIM PURMARLO, Consultant

Delivering news is hard work, as editors well know. Stories don’t just fall in your lap. You must develop news sources, which can be a painstaking process. Sources willingly share good news. When bad news surfaces, they often create detours and roadblocks.

Community newspapers have a long history of vibrant opinion pages. A vibrant opinion page gives folks a platform in their community to make their voices heard.  A vibrant opinion page welcomes letters to the editor. A vibrant opinion page welcomes differing views. But fewer and fewer community newspapers are publishing vibrant opinion pages. 

By Austin Lewter, Director, Texas Center for Community Journalism

Voucher bill passes Senate, arrives in House

Patrick releases 25 legislative priorities

$1 billion for vouchers, $5 billion for teachers?

Legislative budget writers are proposing nearly $5 billion to increase teacher pay and $1 billion to implement a school voucher program in the next biennium, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Note to editors: This is an early bulldog edition of Capital Highlights to accommodate holiday deadlines. It will be updated on Sunday if events warrant.

Hegar releases biennial revenue forecast

The Texas Legislature begins its work creating a state budget for the next two years with slightly less revenue available than it had during the previous biennium.

I’ve been blessed, over the past 20 or so years, to be able to make a living putting words on pages.

By AUSTIN LEWTER, Texas Center for Community Journalism

I’ve yet to publish a book, and I was reminded recently at a faculty meeting that newspaper columns are not equal to peer-reviewed articles — at least in the eyes of many in the academic world.

Nonetheless, I have published thousands of stories and columns in newspapers across Texas.

In my day job at the university, I teach young people how to put words on pages.

 Agencies, universities seek $24.6 billion in new funding

Capital Highlights subscribers, 

Due to an editing error, the party statistics cited in this week’s Capital Highlights item about the coming legislative session were incorrect. There will be 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats in the Texas House when it convenes next week, rather than 87-63 as we reported. We apologize for our mistake.

Your TPA colleagues

Legislative session begins on Jan. 14

The 89th Texas legislative session begins on Jan. 14 with a still-unresolved race for speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

State Reps. David Cook, R-Mansfield and Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, are considered the frontrunners for speaker, but speculation continues as to whether other candidates will throw their hats into the ring.