By RUSSELL VIERS, 
Digiveristy.tv
Between Takes: Thoughts from the Set of Digiveristy.tv is a new column.
If the list of new features for newspapers in the recent Creative Cloud release from Adobe left you underwhelmed, you’re not alone. However, one of InDesign’s new features, Share for Review, can be especially useful for newspapers in ad proofing and workflow.

As most of you know, we lost my beloved wife Suzanne on Jan. 7. She was killed in a car wreck.
Suzanne was a very passionate person. She loved teaching, and it showed as hundreds of former students — many of them newspaper and yearbook students — returned that love by turning out for her funeral either in person or online through the livestream and thousands of tribute posts on Facebook.
It was truly amazing. Never have I seen such an outpouring of affection for a former teacher or a regular person. But then I remembered: Suzanne was never just a regular person.

Early primary voting starts on Valentine’s Day
 
Early voting in the March 1 primary begins on Feb. 14 and runs through Feb. 25. The last day to apply for a ballot by mail is Feb. 18.
There are seven statewide seats on the ballot: governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, land commissioner, agriculture commissioner, comptroller and one seat on the railroad commission. Winners in the Republican and Democratic primaries will face off in the Nov. 8 general election.

Two proposed amendments on May ballot

Registration form shortage as deadline nears

Dozens of school districts close due to COVID-19 outbreaks
 
Several dozen school districts across the state were forced to close last week due to the omicron variant of COVID-19 sending home students, staff and teachers. Most school districts planned to reopen on Tuesday following the MLK holiday.

By Jim Pumarlo, consultant

Emergency SNAP benefits again extended
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is again extending emergency food benefits this month, with more than $307 million in emergency allocations expected to help more than 1.5 million Texas households.

Whew … what a year 2021 was.
The good thing is if you’re reading this, then you survived and are still in business. Congratulations!
The night before I got elected TPA president last January through a Zoom call – which was a first for TPA and kind of weird in itself – I dreamed about Capt. Edward Smith on the bridge of the Titanic. And I sure was hoping we weren’t going to be steering TPA on the same course and that I wasn’t destined to go down with the USS TPA.

Twenty-nine new laws in effect in January
 
More than 20 new state laws went into effect as Texans rang in the New Year, with another half-dozen to go on the books on Jan. 18, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Those laws include a ban on transgender athletes competing on sports teams that reflect their gender identity, and penalties for illegally restraining dogs.
Other new laws: