[4][3] In 1911, Ida M, Ross, who for a few months published a rival paper, acquired The Press and ran it until most of the town's business district was destroyed in a fire in February 1912.
After his death in 1949, his wife Laura E. Mathews assumed management of the paper followed by her sons Thomas F. and Samuel H.[3] In 2012, Tracy Press Inc., which was owned by the Matthews family, declared bankruptcy and was sold on Nov. 12 to Will Fleet and Ralph Alldredge, under the name Tank Town Media.
[5] 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[6] to Amy Ridenour's National Center for Public Policy Research blog,[7] due to the Press being the hometown newspaper of the embattled United States Representative Richard Pombo.
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.