The ''Tracy Press'' is a weekly newspaper published in

Tracy, California Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 93,000 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle form ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

Established in 1898 by Rev. William Paul Friedrich the ''Tracy Press'' was operated by the Matthews family from 1943 to 2012. The ''Tracy Press'' is now co-published by Will Fleet and Ralph Alldredge, who purchased the newspaper and took over publication Nov. 12, 2012, under the name Tank Town Media. It remains one of the few family-owned newspapers still in existence in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. , the paper has an average weekly circulation of over 10,000 and covers both *

and Mountain House. Will Fleet and Ralph Alldredge are co-publishers. In 1999, publisher emeritus Samuel H. Matthews was given the Philip N. McCombs Achievement Award by the California Press Association. Leading up to the 2006 U.S. Congressional Election, ''Tracy Press'' articles and editorials were widely discussed in state and national news and opinion forums, from the

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the United States Democratic Party, Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. The DCCC recruits candidates, raises ...

to Amy Ridenour's

National Center for Public Policy Research The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a self-described conservative think tank in the United States. Its founding CEO was Amy Ridenour, who was chairwoman. David A. Ridenour, her husband, is president, having served ...

blog, due to the Press being the hometown newspaper of the embattled

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Richard Pombo Richard William Pombo, GOIH (born January 8, 1961) is an American lobbyist for mining and water-management companies and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, having represented California's 11th congressional ...

. The ''Tracy Press''-sponsored forum held October 6, 2006 turned out to be the only time that Pombo and challenger

Jerry McNerney Gerald Mark McNerney (born June 18, 1951) is an American businessman, politician, and the U.S. representative for , from 2007 until 2023. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district, numbered as the 11th district until 2013, was based ...

faced voters on the same stage after Pombo declined debate invitations from groups such as the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

. In 2010, the newspaper scaled back publication to a weekly schedule. The paper is published on Fridays. In 2010, the Tracy Press received an award for its coverage of the Sandra Cantu kidnapping and murder case. Press photo editor and reporter Glenn Moore has also been honored several times by the California Newspaper Publishers Association for his news, sports and feature photographs, and former editor Jon Mendelson received similar CNPA awards for his columns, which appeared in the opinion and sometimes news sections of the paper.

Freedom of information

The Tracy Press filed
California Public Records Act request
in 2007, seeking copies of e-mails sent from the personal e-mail account of Tracy Vice Mayor Suzanne Tucker. The e-mails were sent to

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...

officials and concerned the manner in which a public forum about a research lab would be conducted. Since the e-mails were about city business, attorneys for the Tracy Press argued that copies should be made available to the public. A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge ruled against the Tracy Press, saying that since the e-mails were created and kept on Tucker's personal computer, and were never used, owned, possessed or sent by the City, they are not public records. The Tracy Press appealed the ruling and the California Court of Appeal (3rd District) ruled in favor of the City of Tracy on procedural grounds.

Other publications

In addition to the ''Tracy Press'', Tank Town Media also publishes the ''Patterson Irrigator'' in

Patterson Patterson may refer to: People * Patterson (surname) Places ;Canada * Pattersons Corners, Ontario *Patterson Township, Ontario *Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta. ;United States of America * Patterson, Arkansas *Patterson, C ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Tracy Press websiteThe Cal Press
Weekly newspapers published in California Mass media in San Joaquin County, California Tracy, California Newspapers established in 1898 1898 establishments in California Freedom of information in the United States