AUSTIN – First Amendment attorney Joel White, a former president of the Freedom Information Foundation of Texas and longtime champion of open government, died July 21 in Cartagena, Colombia, after becoming ill while on a trip. 

Veteran elementary school teacher Evelyn Carleton Singer, 82, of Austin, died Aug. 28 after a long battle with cancer.
She was the wife of longtime University of Texas journalism professor Griff Singer.

Ed Todd
MIDLAND – Retired Midland Reporter-Telegram writer James Edwin “Ed” Todd, 80, died Aug. 30 at his home in Midland. 
Todd attended Midwestern University in Wichita Falls and earned a master’s degree from East Texas State College in Commerce. He served in the U.S. Army in the mid-late 1950s, stationed in France as a radio technician. 

The Texas Press Association recently recognized Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, as a TPA Champion of Transparency for his legislative work to keep government open to the public.
“He went above and beyond to make government better,” said Odessa American Publisher Patrick Canty, TPA board chairman.

Recent staff changes, additions announced at Texas newspapers.

Cindye Ginsel, a veteran in marketing and publication design, is the new publisher of the Elgin Courier.
The appointment was announced by Granite Publications Sales Director Jim Beaver, who had been serving as interim publisher.