DALLAS – Veteran editor and publisher Yvonne Mintz accepted the gavel as the 147th president of the Texas Press Association at the group’s annual convention.

Mintz is editor and publisher of The Facts in Brazoria County and vice president of Southern Newspapers, Inc. with oversight of the newspapers in Bay City, Baytown, Nacogdoches and Lufkin.

She succeeds Lisa Chappell, regional executive for Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. and publisher of the Greenville Herald Banner as well as ten sister newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma.

DALLAS – Sally Sexton, editor of the Weatherford Democrat, took home a $5,000 cash prize in the first Texas award for unbiased reporting from the Center For Integrity in News Reporting.

CFINR Executive Director Rufus Friday presented the award at the Hall of Fame awards luncheon during the TPA Convention & Trade Show in Dallas.

In making the presentation, Friday highlighted the judges’ comments on Sexton’s work:

“This is a prime example of how to handle an important and emotionally difficult story with solid reporting, objectivity and fairness.

DALLAS – Greg Shrader, president of the Texas Newspaper Foundation, presented the 2026 class of inductees into the Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Members of the class inducted during the Hall of Fame Awards luncheon at the TPA Convention & Trade Show in Dallas are:

William Blair Jr.

Oct. 17, 1921- Apr. 20, 2014

Texas Press Association honored Collyn Wright, editor of the Menard News and Messenger, with the Frank W. Mayborn Award for Community Service. Wright accepted the award at the recent TPA Convention & Trade Show in Dallas.

The honor is presented annually to a newspaper executive who contributed most significantly to society during the past year, exhibiting outstanding and exemplary leadership to the community and reflecting credit upon the newspaper business.

PEARSALL – Frio-Nueces Current managing editor Manuel Azocar III and business manager Kasie Rendon have purchased the newspaper from longtime owner and publisher Craig Garnett.

The sale, which became effective June 1, leaves the new owners in charge of all operations — reporting, advertising sales and distribution. The newspaper operates with a staff of five, plus delivery personnel.

The historic Foard County News is once again serving readers across Foard County after being acquired by Lance Publishing LLC and returned to publication earlier this year.

Shane Lance, owner of Lance Publishing LLC and publisher of the Quanah Tribune-Chief, purchased the Foard County News from longtime owner Kent Smith following the newspaper’s closure in January.

Friends and family gathered June 12 at the Hamilton Herald-News for a bittersweet retirement celebration for longtime HHN Editor and Co-publisher Maria Weaver. Shown are (from left) HHN team members Jaxon Hansard, Janice Velasquez, Publisher Grant Lengefeld, Weaver and Kim Tyson. Not pictured, Kate Edwards.    Photo by Saundra Lengefeld

HAMILTON – Maria Weaver has retired after 40 years in community journalism, 24 dedicated to the Hamilton Herald-News.

A newspaper writer from Texas will receive a $5,000 state award from the Center for Integrity in News Reporting at the annual TPA Convention and Trade Show.

In November 2025, the center received a grant from the SNPA Foundation to fund awards in 14 Southeast states as an extension of the CFINR national awards. Texas was among the 14 states included in the first round of state awards.

The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas will hold an open government seminar on June 18 in Dallas in conjunction with the Texas Press Association Convention and Trade Show at the Hyatt Regency DFW Airport Hotel.

Scheduled from 1 to 4 pm. Thursday, June 18, the training in state open meetings and public records laws is free and open to public officials, journalists and others interested in open government. While being held during the TPA convention, the seminar is not limited to TPA members or convention attendees.

COOPER, Texas — Ashley Colvin, publisher of the Cooper Review, makes her living by wearing two hats —  figuratively, at least.

One is the hat of a weekly journalist working in the trenches of her hometown. In an earlier era, a black-and-white PRESS card would have been tucked into the hatband of her fedora.

Her other hat is the camouflaged duty cap of an Army National Guard soldier. It usually hangs on a military headquarters hatrack, since Colvin serves as a paralegal for the National Guard’s Joint Adjutant General’s Corps.