The public’s right to know is the focus of Sunshine Week, March 11-17, a national celebration promoting openness in government.
Though spearheaded by journalists, Sunshine Week is about the public’s right to know what its government is doing, and why. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know. 
Led by the American Society of News Editors, Sunshine Week is funded primarily by a challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami.

MISSION – Denise M. Rendon, Progress Times director of sales and marketing and owner of Savy Publishing LLC, has purchased the newspaper from Jim Brunson.
Rendon began working for the Progress Times as an advertising account representative in 2012 and was named director of sales and marketing in 2016. She has now assumed the role of publisher.
Brunson, who retains ownership of the Winter Texan Times, said he is pleased to leave the Progress Times in good hands with Rendon. 

WHITESBORO – Austin Lewter has returned as publisher of the Whitesboro News-Record.
The appointment was announced by Scott Wood, owner of the newspaper, who noted that Lewter is “a hometown boy with a proven track record in the newspaper industry and a passion for community journalism.” 
Lewter grew up in Whitesboro and graduated from Collinsville High School. He has a degree in journalism from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and completed his graduate school work in mass communications at Stephen F. Austin State University. 

PALESTINE – Jake Mienk, publisher of the Palestine Herald-Press and Corsicana Daily Sun, has expanded his publisher responsibilities to The Huntsville Item and the Jacksonville Progress.
Mienk was promoted to the regional publisher’s position because of his leadership skills and knowledge of local markets, according to Steve McPhaul, CNHI LLC’s executive vice president of newspaper operations. 
Last year, Mienk was named by Editor & Publisher magazine as one of the country’s top young newspaper executives. 

LUBBOCK – Robert Granfeldt is the new group publisher of the Amarillo Globe-News and Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Gatehouse Media officials announced Feb. 6.
As publisher, Granfeldt is responsible for operations, readership and both publications’ relationship with their communities.
Granfeldt has worked at the Avalanche-Journal, Florida Times-Union and the Montgomery Advertiser. 

VIRGINIA TURNER BROOKS
ATLANTA – Virginia Turner Brooks, 97, of Atlanta, died Jan. 28, in a Texarkana hospital. 
She was the owner of the Atlanta Times and worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation during World War II.
She attended Hockaday Junior College and graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York.
She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Atlanta, of Pi Beta Phi Sorority, the Atlanta Garden Club, The Hat and Glove Society, Board of Trustees at Saint James Day School and a board member of the Original Atlanta Public Library.

SAN ANTONIO – The National Press Photographers Association has honored San Antonio Express-News Director of Photography Jose Luis Rios with the Jim Gordon Editor of the Year award.
Rios was selected from a pool of six nominees. The award recognizes outstanding editors who support and promote strong photojournalism, demonstrate the best use of photos and raise the industry’s standards.  
Rios, 58, a native of Colorado City, Colorado, has served in his current role with the Express-News since January 2010. He oversees nine photojournalists and two photo editors. 

Promotions and staff changes at Texas newspapers.

DUMAS – Longtime Moore County News Press Editor Gardner Collins died Dec. 14 in Amarillo at the age of 85.
Collins spent 30 years with the News-Press, retiring in 1994. Five years later, he was inducted into the Panhandle Press Hall of Fame. 
Collins graduated from Texas A&M University in 1954 with a major in journalism. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he began his newspaper career with The Borger News-Herald in 1956. He also worked for the Paris News and The Hereford Brand as a reporter-photographer before moving to Dumas in 1964. 

WEIMAR – A memorial service for Bruce Wayne Beal, owner, publisher and editor of the Weimar Mercury, was held Jan. 13 at the First United Methodist Church of Weimar.
He died Jan. 7 in Houston, at the age of 68. 
Beal was born July 6, 1949, to Clyde Beal and Ruth Gieseke Beal in Dallas. He grew up in Dallas and Sweetwater before his family moved to Houston, where he graduated from Spring Woods High School. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a journalism degree in 1971.