Stripper Reporter's New Tell-all

Stripper reporter discovers newspaper life is not for her; plans exposé on Texas daily

Reporter Sarah Tressler — who was fired from the Houston Chronicle in 2012 when she was outed as a part-time stripper — is making waves in the media scene once again with a new self-published book taking aim at the San Antonio Express-News, which she left in late November.

With help from superstar attorney Gloria Allred, Tressler landed at the Express-News less than a year ago as part of an equal opportunity settlement with the Hearst Corporation, which owns both the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio newspaper.

Tressler plans to self-publish a brief exposé on the San Antonio newspaper titled Express-News Dispatches.

But all was not well in the Alamo City . . . In an email to noted media blogger Jim Romenesko, Tressler runs through a list of grievances from her tenure at the Express-News. She plans to self-publish a brief exposé on the newspaper titled Express-News Dispatches.

In an excerpt of the soon-to-be-released book, she complains about a lack of salary raises as well as an apparent policy against jeans "deemed too skinny." She also takes aim at the newspaper's profit-sharing program that earned her an annual bonus of $700, which she says she could make on "one good night at my former job as a dancer."

Romenesko posts an email response from Express-News editor Mike Leary, who wishes his former reporter the best while calling her accounts of the newsroom a "serious misportrayal." In the comments section, other Express-News staffers join in Leary's defense of the newspaper.

Tressler, who was unable to be reached for comment, also says she's working on a book with San Antonio beer guru Harry Schumacher, publisher and editor of Beer Business Daily. She has yet to reveal the topic of the project.

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Legislative news

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issues last-minute veto of bill banning THC

The THC limit in medical cannabis products is also increasing.

Photo courtesy of TOCC

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill Sunday to ban all THC consumables, allowing the booming market flush with THC-infused vapes, gummies and other products to continue to be sold across the state.

Abbott, a Republican, waited until the final moment to veto the bill in what would have been one of the most restrictive THC bans in the country and a significant blow to the state’s billion-dollar industry.

The law would have made it a misdemeanor to own, manufacture, or sell consumable THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, products and was the latest push by states to regulate THC after a 2018 federal law allowed states to regulate hemp, a similar plant to marijuana that can be synthetically processed to produce THC, the compound giving marijuana its psychoactive properties.

Loopholes in existing law have allowed many THC-infused goods to enter the market across the country, including states with strict marijuana laws.

Texas has some of the strictest marijuana laws in the country, prohibiting all recreational use and providing a limited medical marijuana program. The consumables market has allowed residents to legally access goods giving a similar high to marijuana.

Republican lawmakers have criticized the products as dangerous due to a lack of federal oversight in how the goods are manufactured. Texas’ ban is one of the more far-reaching among states that have taken similar steps. Several states, including California, have imposed age limits and restrictions on the potency of THC products.

Critics of the Texas bill say it allows people who cannot access marijuana through the state’s medical marijuana program to acquire goods that can provide a similar relief. Many retailers across the state also pointed to the thousands of jobs and millions in revenue the industry brings each year.

Last year, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have put age restrictions on THC consumables, claiming it would hurt small businesses.

cannabis politics