The Big Bend Sentinel is headed for another change in control, about a year after its owners transferred the newspaper to a newly formed nonprofit organization.
Sentinel News Project, the Texas nonprofit that acquired the newspaper from Maisie Crow and Max Kabat in September 2025, has relinquished control back to Crow and Kabat, according to information obtained by the Big Bend Reporter.
But the return to Crow and Kabat appears to be temporary rather than a return to the arrangement that existed before last year’s sale.
Sentinel editor Rob D’Amico told the Big Bend Reporter on Friday that an announcement about the newspaper’s future is expected next week and specifically disputed the suggestion that he would again be working for Crow and Kabat.
“So I heard you’re going to be working for Max and Maisie again,” the Big Bend Reporter told D’Amico during a telephone conversation.
“You would be incorrect on that,” D’Amico responded.
The Big Bend Reporter then told D’Amico that a source had said Roger Black was no longer going to be the publisher.
D’Amico did not dispute that information. Instead, he clarified which part of the Big Bend Reporter’s understanding he was challenging.
“The part you’re wrong about is that I would be working for Max and Maisie again,” D’Amico said.
He said an announcement is expected next week but did not disclose what will be announced.
The Big Bend Reporter has heard unconfirmed reports that another nonprofit organization will take control of the newspaper. The Big Bend Reporter has also heard an unconfirmed report that Hilary Scruggs Beebe will be involved with that nonprofit.
Neither report has been independently confirmed, and D’Amico did not confirm the identity of the organization or who will be involved.
The impending change comes almost exactly one year after the Sentinel announced a major restructuring of its ownership.
On Sept. 15, 2025, Sentinel News Project took ownership of the newspaper from Crow and Kabat. The Sentinel announced the transaction four days later, identifying Black as the head of the nonprofit.
“The change to a nonprofit gives us great potential for growth,” Black said at the time.
Black, a veteran publication designer, became president of Sentinel News Project. The nonprofit’s board also included Don Gardner and Gonzalo Garcia Barcha.
As of this week, the Sentinel’s website continued to identify Sentinel News Project as its publisher and Black as its president.
Crow and Kabat had owned the newspaper for about six years before the nonprofit takeover.
In April 2019, Robert and Rosario Salgado Halpern announced an agreement to sell the Big Bend Sentinel and The Presidio International to Crow and Kabat. The Halperns, who had published the Sentinel for about 30 years, turned ownership of the newspapers over to the couple at the end of June 2019.
Crow and Kabat subsequently developed an unusual business model combining the newspaper with a hospitality and community gathering space.
They moved the newspaper operation into the former Padre’s building on West El Paso Street in Marfa and developed The Sentinel cafe around it, with the newspaper’s offices operating from the same building.
In an August 2019 publisher’s letter explaining the concept, Kabat wrote that customers could stop by for coffee, cocktails or events and that purchases at the business would help support the journalism produced there.
The arrangement effectively combined a community newspaper, newsroom, cafe and gathering space under the Sentinel brand.
That entire operation was not sold when the newspaper changed hands last year.
The September 2025 transaction transferred the newspaper to Sentinel News Project, while Crow and Kabat retained the other portions of the operation. The Sentinel reported at the time that the couple would continue to own and operate the restaurant. A subsequent announcement said Crow and Kabat retained ownership of the building and would continue operating the Sentinel cafe and store.
The newspaper and the cafe therefore had different ownership after the 2025 transaction despite continuing to operate from the same location and under the Sentinel name.
At the time, Black praised the model Crow and Kabat had developed, describing the gathering place surrounding the newsroom as a way to introduce people to the newspaper and allow reporters and editors to interact with the community.
Sentinel News Project described ambitious plans for the newspaper when it assumed control, saying it intended to increase and improve the publication’s print and digital journalism.
The Sentinel’s current website describes Sentinel News Project as a Texas nonprofit and lists D’Amico as editor and Black as president.
Exactly what will replace that structure remains unclear.
D’Amico’s comments, however, indicate that the change will not simply return the newspaper to Crow and Kabat’s previous ownership arrangement.
If the reports received by the Big Bend Reporter are accurate, Crow and Kabat’s renewed control of the newspaper would instead serve as an intermediate step before another nonprofit takes over.
Who will control that organization, whether Scruggs Beebe will be involved and what role Black will have after the transition remain unconfirmed.
An announcement is expected next week.
