Q: Our city clerk puts a boilerplate notice at the bottom of city council meeting agendas, notifying the public that the council may go into executive session under any of a number of exceptions allowing it under the Texas Open Meetings Act. The problem is, this council has a habit of going into executive session without stating exactly which TOMA exception they are using. I don’t think a reporter or anyone else should have to sit there for hours, wondering what council members are talking behind closed doors. Can you send something that fits a scenario like that?
These obituaries are published in the September 2016 edition of the Texas Press Messenger
Sarah L. Greene
Sarah L. Greene, 87, editor and publisher of The Gilmer Mirror from 1974 to 2006, died Aug. 2.
A Texas Newspaper Hall of Fame honoree and former Texas Press Association president, Greene was a third-generation newspaperwoman, following her parents, the late Georgia and Russell H. Laschinger, and grandfather, George Tucker, as publisher of The Gilmer Mirror.
The deadline for filing your Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation (PS Form 3526) with the U.S. Postal Service is Oct. 1 of each year. In addition, the statement must be published during the month of October.
The filing and publication of this form is a requirement for maintaining periodicals mailing privileges. Dailies must publish a completed copy of this form in their newspaper by Oct. 10, and non-dailies by October 31.
USPS revised PS form 3526 in 2014. The proper form to use has a July 2014 date at the very bottom of the form.
Calendars are turning to September and with it, the state religion of high school football. Here’s hoping that your favorite teams have successful seasons!
One of the things I love about being in a community newspaper is that, in a typical week, the football team is the topic of discussion – even in a presidential election year!
Q: We are finding it difficult to get needed information about incidents the police department handles. Usually it takes days and sometimes we don’t get it, period. The public information officer told our reporter the department no longer alerts the media and their policy is now to post incident report information on their Facebook page. Is this customary? Any suggestions?
Published June 26, 2016
The Eagle
Construction is underway at the Bryan-College Station Eagle, where a second press soon will be installed, paving the way for the business to double its commercial print work.
The 9,300-square-foot expansion comes during a transformative period for the industry in which some newspapers have opted to shut down print operations and outsource the work.
Greg Shrader, longtime publisher with Southern Newspapers, Inc., was elected to a three-year term as a trustee of the Texas Newspaper Foundation at its board meeting held in conjunction with Texas Press Association’s Newspaper Leadership Retreat at Lake Conroe.
Shrader, 2013-14 president of TPA, was publisher of the Lufkin News until retiring last year. He has since moved back to Kerrville, where he previously had been publisher of the Kerrville Times.
Retiring from the TNF board is 2007-08 TPA president Phil Major.
TYLER — Smith County Judge Joel Baker was booked into the Smith County jail July 17 on a misdemeanor charge of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said Baker turned himself in after 5 p.m. and was released by 6 p.m. Friday.
Baker is charged with three counts of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act, a misdemeanor.
A warrant was issued Thursday by a Smith County grand jury out of the 114th District Court, Smith said. Baker's bond was set at the maximum of $2,000.
A grand jury has indicted Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal and two commissioners, charging them with violating Texas' open meetings law last year while developing a bond package for new and improved roads.
Traffic-weary voters in the rapidly growing county approved the $280 million financing proposal, but the indictments left Doyal and Commissioners Jim Clark and Charlie Riley to face criminal charges for their actions in getting it on the ballot.
The city of El Paso received dubious recognition Monday when it was named one of five finalists for a national journalism group's award meant to call attention to excessive government secrecy.