The San Antonio Express-News has built a reputation for solid journalism and community involvement since their first edition in 1865. That mission continues today, almost 150 years later.
The Texas Associated Press Managing Editors awarded the Express-News first place in community service at the organization’s convention April 5-6 at South Padre Island for the newspaper’s in-depth coverage of sexual assaults in the military.
In the same contest, the Headliners Foundation of Texas also awarded investigative reporter Karisa King a Star Reporter of the Year Award for her work in “Twice Betrayed,” a seven-month project that revealed pervasive and long-standing problems of sex assaults in the military in which offenders are rarely punished or let go from duty. It focused on victims who reported the incidents but often faced retaliation and discharges on questionable claims that they had mental disorders.
Express-News art director Adrian Alvarez also won a Star Designer of the Year Award for his page designs of “Twice Betrayed” and other news stories.
“Series like ‘Twice Betrayed’ exemplify our commitment to public interest journalism,” Express-News Editor Mike Leary said. “We’re proud of receiving recognition for the fine work our staff does.”
The series let many victims tell their stories publicly for the first time and sparked a national debate about the military’s handling of sexual assault cases.
King, who won the Star Reporter Award in 2007 while at the Express-News, now works for the Chicago Tribune.
The newspaper’s community service prize was for its broad coverage of sexual assault cases at Lackland AFB, where training instructors were accused of victimizing trainees. The winners were King, military writer Sig Christenson, projects editor David Sheppard, photographer Lisa Krantz and director of photography Luis Rios.
The Express-News also won third place in the Team Effort Award for “Twice Betrayed” and an honorable mention for online newspaper of the year.
In addition, Jason Buch, who covers border security issues, won first place in specialty reporting for his writing on money laundering in Mexican drug cartels.
Express-News staff writers Michelle Casady, David Rauf and John Tedesco shared in the first-place award for Class AAAA breaking news report of the year, which was awarded to the Houston Chronicle. Casady and Tedesco also took third place in deadline writing.
Additional Express-News staffers also winning awards in the contest are:
- John MacCormack won third place and Jennifer Hiller took honorable mention in feature series.
- O. Ricardo Pimentel won second place in editorial writing.
- Buck Harvey won second place, and Mike Finger took third place in sports column writing.
- Patrick Danner and Valentino Lucio combined for a second-place finish in business reporting.
- Kin Man Hui won second place in sports photography.
- Lisa Krantz and staff won third place, and Bob Owen won honorable mention in photojournalism. Owen also won honorable mention in the Star Photojournalist of the Year category.
- The Express-News photo staff won third place and honorable mention in best photo gallery.
Each year, the Express-News competes against other newspapers across the state with Sunday circulations of 125,000 or more, a list that includes the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle and the Austin-American Statesman.
Also at the convention, Diana R. Fuentes, Express-News editor of community publications, took office as the new president of the Texas APME organization.
The Express-News award-winning journalists tell the stories that matter to San Antonio, from in-depth local and enterprise reports to investigative articles.
Plans for the Express-News’ 150th anniversary celebration next year will be announced as the date draws closer.
Carlos Torres was named executive vice president and human resources director at Broadway Bank where he has served as senior vice president and human resources manager since 2008. Torres has worked in the human resources arena for 23 years in various capacities, including talent acquisition, employee relations, compensation and benefits design, strategic management, and employee and leadership development.
Wade Scroggins joins Broadway Bank as vice president, market manager of Broadway Bank’s Wilderness Oak Banking Center, which is slated for completion in June. He will serve as market manager at the Encino Banking Center in the interim. Scroggins brings 13 years of experience in the Stone Oak/Vineyard market area. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and holds Series 7, 63 and Group I licenses. He is active in the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and Stone Oak Business Association.
Mike Rowland has been promoted to market manager, military liaison officer at the Broadway Bank Fort Sam Houston Banking Center and will interact with all military units on Joint Base San Antonio. He joined Broadway in 2010 as a military business development officer. Rowland, a retired chief master sergeant, served 30 years in the U.S. Air Force. He serves on the board of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and is chairman of its Military Affairs Committee. Rowland recently earned his Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix.
Angela Portwood has been named vice president. Portwood began her career with Broadway Bank in January 2007 as a credit analyst in the credit department. She has received several promotions and presently serves Broadway Bank as a credit risk analyst in the enterprise risk management department. Portwood earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance from Texas Tech University.
Karen Bell, learning and development facilitator, has been named banking officer. She began her career at Broadway Bank in April 1994 and has served as a Wealth Management Division assistant, trust associate and senior training officer. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology of organizations and development from the University of the Incarnate Word.
Anna Garza has been named banking officer. Garza began her career at Broadway Bank in December 2010 as a learning and development facilitator. She received a Bachelor of English and a secondary teaching certification from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She also has Microsoft Office specialist certifications.
A seven-month Express-News investigation into the pervasive and long-standing problem of sexual assaults in the military shows that victims who report the incidents often are retaliated against and discharged on false claims that they have mental disorders.