T-Squared: Going With the Flow

Today we're pleased to welcome the arrival of a brand new sister publication: a free, twice-a-month newsletter about water and related issues co-produced by the Tribune and the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University. In the Flow collects original reporting from the Trib, interactive maps and other data journalism, and stories and research from trusted outside sources. The focus is Texas, but regional and national insights and perspectives are included. It's a great read — a one-stop shop if you care at all about one of the most important agenda items in the 83rd legislative session and beyond.

Texas State has been publishing a version of In the Flow since late 2005. It launched under the auspices of what was then called the River Systems Institute by its executive director, Andrew Sansom, the former head of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Nature Conservancy of Texas, and well-respected freelance writer Carol Flake. Last fall, the Dallas-based Meadows Foundation committed $5 million to expand the programs of the Rivers System Institute and change its name to the Meadows Center, and at that time Andy approached me about the newsletter's next phase: Would the Trib be interested in partnering to publish and distribute it?

The answer was not just "yes" but "heck, yes." For the last three-plus years, we've been looking to add single-topic newsletters to our stable of offerings, building on the successful incorporation of Texas Weekly into our site. We have aspirations for similar publications on other topics — a deeper dive for wonks and wannabes than we provide every day in the Trib. And who would turn down a chance to work alongside Andy, widely heralded as the most knowledgable and passionate expert on water in these parts? We're also extremely excited to collaborate with Carol, whose terrific long-form narratives I published over and over at Texas Monthly; she has agreed to remain aboard as In the Flow's principal author. The Trib's own David Muto is coordinating the effort on our end. 

"The Texas Tribune is the most innovative journalistic enterprise in the nation today," Andy says, "and we are honored as one of America’s foremost institutions for the study of water and the environment to be part of another bold Tribune initiative certain to provide a higher level of information on our critical water issues."

You can find In the Flow by clicking the "newsletters" tab on our navigation bar. You can also sign up to receive an email alert when a new issue is published. Let us know what you think!