Texas Press Association

Recently, American Consolidated Media, home to more than 80 print and digital publications in nine states, launched the second class of journalists involved in its Digital Reporter Project.

ACM is headquartered in Irving, Texas. The Digital Reporter Project puts an iPad2 workstation in the hands of the reporters involved as a tool to allow them to provide news updates and multimedia coverage on their newspapers' websites from the field.

In the second phase of the project, four journalists in Texas are featured. Brad Keith, sports editor of the Stephenville Empire-Tribune; Pete Garcia, sports editor of the Alice Echo-News Journal; Ofelia Hunter, managing editor of the Alice Echo-News Journal; and Pedro Perez IV, reporter with the Valley Town Crier in McAllen, are four of the 11 journalists involved in the Digital Reporter Project 2.0 class. The first class of the Digital Reporter Project included 10 journalists in ACM.

Every year the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality collects data on recycled newsprint. Texas law requires that newspaper publishers submit their 2011 report to TCEQ by Jan. 31. More information about the reporting requirement is available in the Texas Health and Safety Code, Section 361.430.

Please fill out the current survey form and return it to TCEQ by Jan. 31. For more information about the program, visit the TCEQ Recycled Newsprint website. If you have questions or need assistance completing the survey, please contact TCEQ's Stephanie Cunningham at 512-239-3143 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

April 6 is the deadline for Monson Award nominations. Sponsored by the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and Texas Press Association, the Monson FOI Award recognizes journalists and/or newspapers for outstanding efforts that uphold First Amendment principles, increase public access to government, and improve awareness of state open government statutes.

The award is named in honor of former FOIFT’s executive director, Nancy Monson, who retired in 2001 after nearly two decades of service. FOIFT is one of the leading education and advocacy non-profit organizations in the country working for open government and access to public information for more than 30 years.

Learn how to make your newspaper's sports pages more objective, more accurate, and, of course, more interesting! Join us for another great TPA online training opportunity, "Sports Writing for Community Newspapers," Jan. 25 to March 9, with instructor Griff Singer.

Singer, who is a veteran journalist and journalism instructor, retired from teaching at the University of Texas at Austin after the fall semester of 2002. He continues to work with UT's School of Journalism as a consultant and as a director of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Center for Editing Excellence. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Enrollment is limited to the first 20 students, so don't wait until the last minute to sign up! The class is free for community journalists at TPA members newspapers, but students must complete the entire course or the member newspaper will be assessed a $100 fee.

To sign up, fill out the registration form and fax to TPA at 512-477-6759. Email TPA Executive Director Mike Hodges, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , with questions.