How it works

Where the news comes from

Every day we read what local newsrooms, town and city halls, school districts and community organizations publish. When several of them cover the same event, we treat it as one story rather than repeating it. You can see every source we read, town by town.

How stories are written

We don't copy articles. For each story we pull out the facts the sources agree on (who, what, where and when) and write a short summary in our own words, with links to the original reporting so you can read the full account from the people who did the work.

Before a summary is published it is checked against its sources. If a detail can't be backed up, it comes out. If sources disagree, the summary says so instead of picking a side. Anything that doesn't pass, or that needs a closer look, waits for an editor.

What we leave out

We don't cover individual crimes: arrests, police logs, court cases, shootings or thefts. There is no crime blotter here. We do cover public-safety matters that affect everyone, like police and fire budgets, new stations, staffing and road-safety plans.

We also don't pad the newsletter. If only a few worthwhile things happened in your towns this week, you get a few stories, not filler.

A neutral tone

Summaries stick to what happened. No clickbait, no opinions and no guesses presented as fact. We cover local elections, but we never endorse or rank candidates, and claims made by campaigns, businesses or advocacy groups are attributed to them rather than stated as fact.

Your newsletter

Subscribers choose their towns (one, several, or the whole Valley) and their topics. Each week we send the stories that match, newest and most important first. Everyone gets the same carefully checked summary of a story; what changes is which stories you get.

Corrections

When we get something wrong, we fix it and say so on the story, rather than quietly changing it. Spotted a mistake? Let us know.