Scripps (skrĭps) Family of American newspaper publishers, including James Edmund (1835-1906), who founded the Detroit Evening News (1873), and his half-brother Edward Wyllis Scripps (1854-1926), who established (1907) the news agency that became United Press International and organized the syndication of features and illustrations. James's sister Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932) invested heavily in the family's newspaper projects and founded Scripps College in Claremont, California (1926).