Rural Texas papers struggling to operate amid winter weather disaster

Many Texas newspapers are having difficulty operating and/or delivering because of the winter weather that has brought the state to a halt.

In Colorado City, (whose mayor resigned after a social media diatribe saying that "only the strong will survive" amid power shortages) The Colorado City Record warned subscribers that the paper will be delayed this week because there is no electricity to run the software for designing the paper.

Mike Hodges, Texas Press Association director, said in an email to The Rural Blog that, though he doesn't have exact numbers on how many papers are being delayed, "suffice it to say that the challenge is widespread." Many papers face staff shortages and electrical outages (which sometimes means no heat, water, and/or internet), and mail delivery has been slow because of road conditions. But, Hodges wrote, papers are persevering: "I am not aware of any publishers failing to produce their product this week. However, my staff and I did field an abundance of phone calls and emails from publishers who were having difficulty in meeting deadlines, getting the paper to the printer, getting to and from the press, etc."