Jason Thomas moved to Southern Illinois from Springfield, IL in 1985 to attend SIU and he has called Carbondale home ever since. He has been a local, independent newspaper publisher for 21 years. He founded several publications including the Carbondale Times, Nightlife, and The Book of Homes. His company, Thomas Publishing, provides business to business printing services and also produces several state sanctioned tourism magazines. He is married to Debbie has two step-daughters: Allyson-23, and Kaitlyn-21.