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.

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.

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.

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

The Society for Features Journalism has announced its 28th annual award winners. Among the winners are the five largest newspapers in Texas: the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express News, Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has thrown out a gag order that prohibited bikers charged in a deadly May 2015 shootout from talking to the media. The court issued an order June 15 that lifted a stay that had been in place since August, when the court ruled that the gag order was wrong but allowed it to stay in place pending further consideration.