Q: I have some candidates wanting to communicate with registered voters through direct mail. I can get the list from the county. But Election Code Sec. 18.009, Unlawful Use of Information on Registration List, states: (a) A person commits an offense if the person uses information in connection with advertising or promoting commercial products or services that the person knows was obtained under Section 18.008. (b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor. Does this specifically exclude commercial products or services but not political advertising?

We live in truly crazy and sophomoric times.
I don’t care who you voted for in the last presidential election; I don’t care where you fall on the political spectrum. At the national level, it’s become a big mudslinging match with all sides involved, including some of our Beltway news media brethren.
All too often, people have allowed their ideology to overwhelm their intellect – and their tempers to run roughshod over reason and accommodation.
And if you’re like me, you’ve noticed some of that mud has splattered on us hometown newspapers.

As outlined last month, community newspapers once again have an inflationary price increase under the 2006 postal reform act, passed with the National Newspaper Association’s help, and with several newspaper rule improvements.

All I want for Christmas is. . . . 
Well, I already have my two front teeth. So I’ll just reiterate my perennial request for more public officials who truly understand and abide by the notion of transparency when doing the public’s business.
Somehow, I’m getting a sinking feeling that Santa is gonna stiff me again.

Q: Our general law city council does not meet on a weekly or even a monthly basis. So I asked the city secretary how bills get approved for payment. I was told that each councilperson comes to city hall and looks through the bills and gives the okay. I think the council should meet, as a body, in an open meeting, even if it’s just to approve the bills. I wrote a letter to the city administrator and to the mayor regarding this trend of not meeting. What do you think about it?

Q: If a city council convenes in open session at city hall and then adjourns, travels to a remote, private, controlled-access site, then conducts an executive session to interview city manager applicants, does the open meetings law allow that?
A: Let’s confine our search for an answer to the handy Texas Attorney General’s 2016 Open Meetings Handbook. The following language appears on page 40 under the header and paragraph, VIII. Open Sessions, A. Conducting the Meeting: 

A lot of us love newspapering because of all the challenges the business presents us each day. But from time to time, all those challenges can have us feeling really down in the dumps.
We continue to grapple with how we communicate our journalism and advertising to an increasingly diffused and finicky market. Revenue challenges mean we have to work even harder in an attempt to deliver more with tighter budgets. And we always seem to hear from those who are all too quick to hate us for what we do or don’t do.

The official inflation factor used to file price increases under the current postal reform law of 2006, in which the National Newspaper Association was instrumental, is 1.9 percent for the 12-month average used by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Q: How does the state define walking quorum? I think we’ve got one going with our county commissioners.

Do you remember your first real assignment? I do.
It was my first day as a summer intern at the old San Antonio Light. Up walked Bend Segal, a gruff, seasoned assistant city editor who had weaned many a cub reporter. He handed me a six-page press release. “Rewrite it,” he said. “And let me know when you’re done.”
Seems like it took me forever to rewrite that press release. But I finally managed to finish it, reducing the six-page release to three. I handed the copy to Ben, who took his red marker and quickly circled a typo and handed it back to me, saying, “Do it again.”