Biography
Jack McElroy grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where he attended the University of Arizona, earning a bachelor's degree in English in 1975. His first newspaper job was as a reporter in the small Mexican border town of Douglas, Arizona. In 1977 he joined The Albuquerque Tribune, an E.W. Scripps Co. newspaper in New Mexico, as a reporter. He worked there 14 years, ultimately as managing editor. While in Albuquerque, he earned a master's degree in management at the University of New Mexico. In 1991, McElroy moved to another Scripps paper, the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado. He worked there 10 years and was managing editor when the Columbine High School shootings occurred. The newspaper was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for its photo coverage of the event. McElroy was appointed editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel in November 2001.-
Jack McElroy: Don't leave McClung out of the party
Published 05/26/2013 at 3 a.m.
The McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture hits the big 5-0 this week. So why isn’t it being invited to the party?
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Jack McElroy: Shield laws protect independence
Published 05/19/2013 at 4 a.m.
In vetoing the “Ag Gag” bill last week, Gov. Bill Haslam said it appeared to repeal parts of the Tennessee Shield Law. A few days later, the White House, under fire for the seizure of Associated Press phone records, said ...
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Jack McElroy: All the best to all the moms today
Published 05/12/2013 at 3 a.m.
I’m in favor of motherhood. I like apple pie, too. But moms are really great.
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Jack McElroy: Did two wrongs make justice right?
Published 04/28/2013 at 3 a.m.
Richard Baumgartner has decided to report to prison and start serving his sentence for lying to officials to protect his drug-dealer girlfriend.
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Jack McElroy: Bill sneers at the First Amendment
Published 04/21/2013 at 3 a.m.
Theodore Roosevelt gets credit for attaching the term muckraker to the reporters of that era, who were dredging up the ills of society for all to see.
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Jack McElroy: Ignoring gun crime won't make it go away
Published 04/14/2013 at 3 a.m.
Sometimes a silly movie line can get stuck in your head. That’s happened to me the past few days with a bit from “Miss Congeniality,” the Sandra Bullock flick about an FBI agent who enters a beauty pageant to foil ...
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Jack McElroy: Back to court against the county
Published 04/07/2013 at 3 a.m.
This week the News Sentinel is in court again in an open government case against Knox County.
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Jack McElroy: What makes water run uphill?
Published 03/31/2013 at 3 a.m.
My first big assignment as a reporter came in 1979 when I was working for The Albuquerque Tribune and was told to write a series of articles on New Mexico’s water resources.
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Jack McElroy: Casualties continue after wars end
Published 03/24/2013 at 3:15 a.m.
One the our best-read stories last week was Matt Lakin’s piece about Capt. Thomas Gilley, the 32-year-old commander of the Tennessee National Guard’s 190th Engineer Company, who took his own life after returning home from war.
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Jack McElroy: Safer schools, but at what cost?
Published 03/10/2013 at 3 a.m.
Are Knox County Schools safe? Superintendent Jim McIntyre says they are. So does Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones. So do I.
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Media coalition sues DCS over records
Published 12/19/2012 at 4:19 p.m.
The News Sentinel has joined a media coalition that filed suit today in an attempt for force the state Department of Children's Services to release records of children who died after being brought to the agency's attention.
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The Upfront Page: Mayor subpoenas newspaper's records
Published 07/02/2012 at 3:09 p.m.
County Mayor Tim Burchett has slapped me and the News Sentinel with a subpoena.
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Jack McElroy: What did Jamie Satterfield know when?
Published 02/12/2012 at 4 a.m.
What did Jamie Satterfield know about Richard Baumgartner's woes, and when did she know it? The question has been raised several times since the News Sentinel's court reporter began exposing the judge's criminality.
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Jack McElroy: News Sentinel's 125th anniversary celebration will mark history, look to the future
Published 12/23/2011 at 4 a.m.
News, it's said, is the rough draft of history. In that capacity, the News Sentinel and its predecessors have now been sketching the history of Knoxville for exactly 125 years.It was on Dec. 23, 1886, that Kentuckian John T. Hearn ...
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TVA agrees to release salaries
Published 05/13/2010 at 3:03 p.m.
KNOXVILLE - David Mould, TVA's senior vice president for communications, said today the federal agency will release the salary information requested by the News Sentinel under the Freedom of Information Act.
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The Upfront Page: Sports journalists aren't boosters
Published 02/20/2010 at 12:25 p.m.
A letter writer complained about a photo in Sunday's paper showing a Kentucky player bouncing the basketball off the head of the Vols' J.P. Prince:
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Duly noted: UT still not saying what Dooley will be paid
Published 01/21/2010 at 6:14 a.m.
The UT Athletic Department isn't saying what Dooley will be paid or what the other terms of his employment are because the agreement hasn't been finalized. Tiffany Carpenter, the department's director of public relations, says she hopes to have numbers ...
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New Vols football writer starts
Published 09/01/2009 at 6:09 a.m.
Austin Ward took over our UT football beat Monday. He comes to us from the Star-Tribune in Casper, Wyo., where he covered University of Wyoming football and was named 2008 Wyoming sportswriter of the year.
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McElroy: Cobbins case about overcoming racism
Published 08/30/2009 at midnight
In the end, the Letalvis Cobbins case was about race but not in the way the racists tried to spin it.
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McElroy: NS ad reps keep up with the times
Published 05/17/2009 at midnight
In the newsroom, we jokingly refer to the advertising department as the "dark side," where worldly concerns may take precedence over the ivory tower ideals of truth, justice and the First Amendment.
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