Latest news with #Tribune-Star
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tribune-Star staffers honored with seven Indiana SPJ awards
Tribune-Star staff members received seven awards at the Society of Professional Journalists annual Indiana chapter banquet Friday evening at Carmel. SPJ organizers said a record 1,130 entries were judged by a group of out-of-state journalists in the contest, involving print media, radio, TV, online and multiplatform news outlets. The Tribune-Star awards went to editor Alicia Morgan, photographer Joe Garza, reporter Sue Loughlin, and columnist and sports editor Mark Bennett. The Tribune-Star honors came in the division for news outlets with circulations under 10,000. Morgan took a first-place award for best use of graphics and illustrations. Garza received a third-place award for best multiple picture group and a second-place for best sports photography, capturing images from a Terre Haute Police program with "He's a mean one, Mr. Grinch," and a silhouette from the John McNichols Invitational track and field meet at Indiana State University. Loughlin got a second-place award in the best non-deadline story or series category for her "Stronger than the Storm" one-year-later retrospective of the deadly 2023 Sullivan tornado. Bennett took a first-place in column writing for pieces on blues guitarist Dicky James, early 20th-century journalist Stella Stimson's city corruption coverage and Terre Haute native Michael Natt's role in the touring "Hamilton" production. Bennett also received a first in best personality profile for a piece on Terre Haute-born Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars, and a third-place in best sports column writing for pieces on ISU men's basketball, Olympic weightlifter Mary Theisen-Lappen, and former Sycamore football great Vincent Allen's nomination for the College Football Hall of Fame. Statewide, the Indiana Capital Chronicle's Casey Smith won Journalist of the Year.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Tribune-Star Editorial: Jack Meany put vision into action, shaped Terre Haute
It never took long to realize Jack Meany had entered a room. His booming baritone and hearty laugh enlivened the atmosphere. Meany achieved the same results in his adopted hometown of Terre Haute. Meany's impact is worth remembering now. He died Sunday in Union Hospital at 85 years old. As publisher of the Tribune-Star from 1990 until the turn of the 21st century, Meany led the newspaper's move from its original facility at 721 Wabash Ave. to a new $3-million structure — custom-built as a base of operations for print journalism — at 222 South Seventh St. Meany also presided over a substantial growth in the Tribune-Star's staff and coverage. That facility debuted in 1997. It served its staff and the community through 2019, when newsroom and business operations moved to The Meadows, with the production plant remaining on East Margaret Avenue, where it has been since 2002. The building Meany helped oversee into its fruition still serves the community as the renovated headquarters for the Terre Haute Police Department. Likewise, Meany continued his involvement in the community after stepping down as publisher a quarter-century ago as a volunteer to fight hunger, a mentor and fundraiser at his church, and an active citizen, speaking at public meetings on voting access for college students, the size and scope of the new Vigo County jail, and the local food and beverage tax. Meany, his wife Kathleen and their family of four kids first moved from Reno, Nevada to Terre Haute in 1982, when Jack became the Tribune-Star's circulation director. That job ended amid the change in ownership from the Hulman family to Ingersoll, and Meany then landed a job with Thomson Newspapers in Illinois and then Leavenworth, Kansas. His trademark wit showed in a comment he made when Thomson offered Meany the job in the Kansas town that is famously home to a maximum-security military prison. 'They said, 'Jack, what do you think about going to Leavenworth?'' he recalled in a 2018 Tribune-Star interview. 'I said, 'To the newspaper?'' He laughed loud at the memory. That position led to the publisher's job in Terre Haute, the new building and a new hometown. In retrospective, Meany said the local role 'was fun, but it had its frustrations.' It also differed from his earlier vocation — teaching. Born in Port Jervis, New York, Meany later lived and graduated from high school in Pennsylvania and then earned a bachelor's degree from East Stroudsburg University and a master's degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Meany became a teacher in Port Jervis, teaching history, social studies and driver education to eighth-graders and juniors, while Kathleen taught English there. Jack organized a community fair in Port Jervis and led the local teachers union. He also taught kids with special needs. 'He always had a heart for the student that wasn't tip-top,' Kathleen explained for that 2018 Tribune-Star story. His soft heart also was evident in his Terre Haute years. After his publisher's role ended, he worked to help feed the hungry. Meany scheduled food pantry distribution for the Salvation Army. He got churches, nonprofits and businesses to develop the 12 Points/Northside Brown Bag Project, a twice-a-week program to get food to residents of Garfield Towers and Warren Village in Terre Haute. Those two facilities serve aging, physically and mentally disabled and low-income people. His motivation? 'I don't play golf. This is my game, and I enjoy doing it,' he told the newspaper he formerly led. He also emphasized that Kathleen 'does the heavy lifting. I just do the pointing.' Meany explained the reason for the Brown Bag Project at a meeting of the local Bread for the World chapter. 'People should not be going to bed hungry,' he said. Jack Meany brought a good heart and extra effort to any role he took on, and Terre Haute became better because of his work.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tribune-Star Editorial: Parks investments are solid in an uncertain time
Terre Haute and Vigo County have a niche that can offer the community national distinction. And it is one worth trumpeting and enhancing. Fortunately, the latter is already happening. Several parks investments were detailed in multiple separate stories in Friday's Tribune-Star by reporter David Kronke. Few American places have the scope, variety and aesthetics of the Terre Haute and Vigo County parks. That is not just an idle boast. Outside entities recognize the community's commitment to its outdoors facilities. Only 31 other U.S. cities have as many parks per capita as Terre Haute, according to the 2024 Best Small Cities in America rankings by the personal finance website, WalletHub. That's a glowing statistic, considering those rankings include more than 1,300 towns across the country. The parks element is just one sub-category among many, and the combination of that and other quality-of-life variables used in WalletHub's calculation — from housing costs to school-system quality, to the crime rate and more — left Terre Haute with a lowly overall ranking of 1,128th. Clearly, parks represent Terre Haute's and Vigo County's forte. In fact, the 2019 Best Small Cities rankings put Terre Haute and its parks (including the Vigo County parks) in an even loftier spot — No. 1 in America in parks per capita, tied with 10 other towns. That reality not only enhances residents' lives but can also invigorate Terre Haute's economy. The local trails and parks — from the wildlife and hiking at Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area to the sporting challenges of Griffin Bike Park; Deming Park's 18-hole disc golf course, Oakley Playground and Spirit of Terre Haute train; Fairbanks Park's Wabash River vistas and festival spaces; Brittlebank Park's popular pickleball courts; the busy skatepark at Voorhees Park (Indiana's second-largest); and the handy amenities of neighborhood parks like Maple Avenue Nature Park, and George and Ida Smith Park in Prairieton — can help entice potential employers, employees and young families to make Terre Haute and Vigo County their home. Improvements to the parks are coming, as the news reports indicated. This week, county parks staff busily worked at Griffin Bike Park, where a grant from Health First Indiana — a state public health initiative — is funding construction of a pro shop for vendors, community space that can be rented for events and a park manager office. In December, Vigo Parks Superintendent Adam Grossman and the county commissioners signed a contract for $1 million with Strode Construction, low bidder on the project. Also this week, the Terre Haute City Council re-appropriated American Rescue Plan Act (or ARPA) funds — a step necessary to keep funded projects moving forward — that will cover renovations to Rea Park ($1.38 million), Herz-Rose Park ($2.26 million) and Deming Park's pool ($2 million). And, an effort by Mayor Brandon Sakbun's Youth Council to raise $35,000 for playground equipment at Coy Park — an urban greenspace at 16th Street and Barbour Avenue — got a boost 10 days before a deadline to get matching funds. Indiana American Water donated $10,000 toward the cause. The Youth Council must raise $35,000 to qualify for a matching grant through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. As Indiana American's company director Justin Schneider said of the decision to donate to the Coy Park project, 'We've really tried to take the approach of making contributions to a community that's going to make a difference.' Indeed, Terre Haute and Vigo County can make a difference in its future by maintaining and developing its distinctly strong parks. They are a reason to choose this community as a place to live, work and play.
