Texas Happenings 2007, No. 13
Week of June 25, 2007TEXAS HapPENINGS is a biweekly advisory to AP member editors on upcoming stories or projects of special interest and a source of news about other AP developments.
AP STAFF SCRAMBLES TO COVER TEXAS FLOODING
From the Oklahoma border to the Texas Hill Country, the Texas Associated Press’ writers, photographers and videographer have been busy the past two weeks covering the flooding that has swamped the state.
Fort Worth Correspondent Angela K. Brown started her day on June 18 reporting on the flash flooding that engulfed the small town of Haltom City. Photographer Donna McWilliam and Videographer Rich Matthews captured images for AP members.
When word came that waters were rising along Pecan Creek in Gainesville, Brown, McWilliam and Matthews headed north along with Photographer Tony Gutierrez, who shot aerials from a helicopter.
AP Writer Paul J. Weber was sent to Sherman and AP Writer Terry Wallace helped with details gathered from Dallas. Also in Dallas, AP Writer Matt Slagle talked to meteorologists about what was causing the storm system to keep its grip on Texas and the big difference from this year’s soggy spring and last year’s desperate drought conditions.
As residents continued the cleanup from the deadly storms, Brown revisited the issue of a stalled project to widen the creek to help alleviate flooding.
Ten days and countless thunderstorms after the flooding hit Gainesville, AP Writer April Castro anchored the storms story on June 27 with reports from Marble Falls where up to 18 inches of rain fell overnight and more than 30 people had to be rescued from rooftops and trees.
AP Writer Jim Vertuno reported on the flooding in Georgetown, Liz Austin Peterson and Kelley Shannon from Austin, Brown on flood damage near Lake Granbury and the Dallas staff on heavy rains in the Dallas area.
Photographers Matt Slocum in the air and Harry Cabluck on the ground captured the images. And everyone waited to see where the next storm would take them.
LOOKING AHEAD
On a one-acre site alongside a sea of docked shrimp boats and fronting the turquoise waters of the Brownsville ship channel is a $2.2 million assembly of pipes, sheds, and whirring machinery - Texas' entree into the future of making Gulf of Mexico sea water suitable to drink.
"Sea water," said plant operator Joel Del Rios. "It's never gonna run out."
Global output of desalinated seawater is still relatively minute - less than 0.1 percent of all drinking water. But according to a recent report by Global Water Intelligence, the worldwide desalination industry is expected to grow 140 percent over the next decade, entailing $25 billion in capital investment by 2010, or $56 billion by 2015.
AP Writer Lynn Brezosky examines the issue in a story slugged Drinking Sea Water moving in advance for weekend issues. AP Photos also are planned.
Also in the weekend report for June 30-July 1:
AP WEEKEND MEMBER EXCHANGE: SISTER WAITRESSES
DALLAS - Barbara Woodley, a waitress at Mama's Daughter's Diner, came to work last week wearing big hair, a purple blouse, black pants, bright costume jewelry and a pair of oversized, rhinestone sunglasses. Her sister Natalie, everyone agrees, is the flamboyant one. For much of two decades, Barbara, 70, and Natalie, 66, a waitress at the nearby Original Market Diner have waited on tables in the two diners, The mythical pantheon of Texas characters such as the "taciturn cowboy" or the "flamboyant oilman" has long included the "sassy waitress" to which the Woodley sisters happily claim kin. By David Flick, The Dallas Morning News. AP Photos.
MEMBER EXCHANGE ADDITION
We’re taking the popular Member Exchange fixture into the weekend. In addition to the features you see from newspapers across the state during the week, we’re now offering AP Weekend Member Exchange - a feature that you can use either Saturday or Sunday.
And we’re now moving a member exchange on Sunday for Monday editions. As part of the change, we will not routinely move a feature on Friday for Saturday editions.
Watch for member exchanges to move on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Weekend Member Exchange will usually move on Tuesday in advance for Saturday and Sunday.
Member Exchange brings you features from around the state and can cover timeless topics or hard news. They move with the newspaper writer’s byline and the newspaper’s name.
If you have a story that you believe would be a good member exchange, please e-mail it to Linda Franklin at lfranklin@ap.org.
MEMBER KUDOS
When flood waters swept people away in North Texas, the Gainesville Daily Register and the Sherman Herald Democrat helped the AP keep on top of the details. The Odessa American shared its stories with wind damage in West Texas.
The San Angelo Standard-Times shared a story on the death of philanthropist Eva Camunez Tucker on cycle.
The Facts provided its story on cycle on the condition of a 3-year-old wounded when a rifle slipped off a toolbox in the back of a pickup truck.
The Odessa American also shared its story on cycle on the plea agreement for a man who pleaded guilty to killings his pregnant wife and mother-in-law.
These are just a few of the latest examples of member help. If you have stories to offer, please e-mail them to dalcarbon@ap.org. If you have a question about whether we might be interested in the story, please call the AP and ask for the supervisor at 1-800-442-7189.
NEWS FROM NEW YORK
AP MONEY & MARKETS TO OFFER NEW ONLINE MODULES
The next release of Money & Markets online modules will be July 1. A half-dozen additional modules, offering markets information not available elsewhere, will be part of the release. These key modules include analytic information developed by AP’s reporting and graphics staff.
Later this summer, we’ll launch Money & Markets Extra, a package of 30 modules designed for weekend use. These markets building blocks will assess performance and help readers identify investment trends.
For more information about AP Money & Markets print and online, check out www.ap.org/markets, or contact Texas Associated Press Chief of Bureau Dale Leach at 972-991-2100 or dleach@ap.org.
Questions? Contact Elanit Friedman at (213) 346-3108 or efriedman@ap.org.
AP ONLINE VIDEO OPTIONS EXPAND
We’ve added new features to AP’s Online Video Network that put even more capabilities into your hands. The focus is local - local content and local advertising.
Later this year, we’ll add syndication and user-generated content.
We’re also making continual improvements to the ways OVN can be presented on your site, so you can attract more traffic and generate more revenue than ever.
We provide you with a turn-key service that keeps your Web site’s branding. The ad-supported network means members get AP’s award-winning coverage at no out-of-pocket cost, in exchange for promoting it.
In addition to the Online Video Network, video packages are available for a cash subscription to give you more options.
For more information, contact Texas Associated Press Chief of Bureau Dale Leach at 972-991-2100 or dleach@ap.org and visit www.ap.org/ovn.
WEEKLY FEATURES BECOMES AP LIFESTYLES
Over the past year, the Weekly Features staff has worked hard to transform their service into a full-service lifestyles report. In addition to the food, fashion and homes and garden coverage you've long expected, coverage now includes families and relationships, pets and holidays.
And something else: Weekly Features isn't just weekly. While the bulk of the exclusive content moves on Fridays and Mondays, members who subscribe also get digests throughout the week.
It seemed the name didn't fit anymore. So Weekly Features has become AP Lifestyles. The name suits the service much better, as it aims to cover the way people live.
In addition to the same regular fixtures you can count on every week, Lifestyles now strives for timeliness and responsiveness to the news. For example, instead of waiting a week to tell readers about the recent Food Marketing Institute show in Chicago, Lifestyles covered it live. As Queen Elizabeth II visited the U.S., Lifestyles produced a photo essay and analysis of her many outfits.
Digests throughout the week also point out stories on other AP wires that might be suitable for feature sections - health, diet, fitness and business stories, for example.
Regardless of the name, Lifestyles remains a bargain at about $20 a week.
If you want to learn more about AP Lifestyles and get its first quarterly newsletter, please contact AP Lifestyles Editor Diane Davis at ddavis@ap.org or 212-621-6927.
SPECIAL EDITIONS
The special edition package on back to school will move July 10.
APPLAUSE PLEASE
HEATHER LANDY, who covers the retail industry for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, won the Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Writing for her articles revealing that Dave Edmondson, the former RadioShack chief executive, lied on his resume about his academic credentials.
DEATHS
WALTER HAROLD GRAY, a former Associated Press newsman who helped cover the Watts riots in Los Angeles and labor leader Cesar Chavez's march from South Texas to Austin, died May 16 of cancer. He was 74. In addition to the AP, Gray worked for the Laredo Times, the Houston Chronicle and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
INDUSTRY NEWS
The AP Industry News summary is now available on the new AP Exchange system, a free system offering you Web-based access to the AP report. On AP Exchange, media industry news items will be available immediately, rather than transmitted once a week. For more on AP Exchange you can visit www.ap.org/apexchange.
If you do not have AP Exchange access yet, please contact AP Texas Chief of Bureau Dale Leach.
An AP Exchange account will permit you to access and search industry news, along with all your AP text, photo and graphics services. Until an AP Exchange account is created for you, we can add you to an e-mail list for distribution of media industry news items as soon as they arrive. If you would like to be added to the distribution list, please send your request by e-mail to talkback@ap.org.
If you’ve got news to share for TEXAS HapPENINGS, please send the material to Linda Franklin at lfranklin@ap.org.
PREVIOUS ISSUES:
• April 16, 2007
• April 30, 2007
• May 14, 2007
• May 28, 2007
• June 11, 2007
