DavidsonNews.net has been online for 3 years and 10 months, and by now many of you are used to finding town news on an independent local website. That’s a great thing, though sites like DavidsonNews.net are hardly the norm in most towns and neighborhoods across the U.S. As DavidsonNews.net evolves, we’re continuing to win national recognition, and we remain a model others are watching closely. After attending a conference of local news publishers in Chicago recently, I’m more optimistic than ever about the future of local news.

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Readers tell us they love having the local news and information that DavidsonNews.net provides on the web. You may not know it, but others beyond Davidson are also paying close attention to our experiment in local news. In the past 3 years we’ve been interviewed and surveyed about how we do this.

Now we’ve been asked to help get your feedback for an academic study of the new world of local news. The Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism is conducting research about community news sites, and it would appreciate your responses. Read the full story

I hear a lot of nice comments from my Davidson neighbors about DavidsonNews.net and they often begin with “You’re doing a great job.” But since we started the site in 2006, this has been more than a one-person operation. Today, I’m sorry to be saying farewell to my longest-serving teammate, Laurie Dennis, who is moving away. At the same time, I’m happy to introduce and welcome Karen Cimino Wilson, who joins our team covering schools. Read the full story

Neighbors and readers:

I’d like take a minute to express my gratitude to the approximately 300 readers who have made voluntary subscription payments over past 12 months, including to our Winter Subscription Drive in January. Thanks also to the 24 first-time subscribers who sent payments after our email appeal last week. Your financial support ensures that we can continue this valuable community service. http://davidsonnews.net/support/

Today, I’d like to address a different group – those who for whatever reason have not yet become supporters of DavidsonNews.net. Read the full story

Thanks to the 75 people who made voluntary subscription payments during our January subscription drive. We appreciate your support. If you didn’t quite get to it in January, we invite you to make a payment when you can. Details at http://www.davidsonnews.net/support/

“How do you pay for this?” That’s one of the most common questions I hear as editor of DavidsonNews.net. The simple answer is we don’t entirely pay for it – at least not yet. That’s where you come in. Read the full story

Cristina Shaul

JAN. 22 UPDATE: Our heartfelt thanks to the 26 readers who have renewed or become new voluntary paying subscribers so far this month. There’s still time to help. Details below.

Another in a series of updates and notes from DavidsonNews.net publisher Cristina Shaul.

We need your help! How important is DavidsonNews.net to you? Do you visit us once a day? Multiple times a day? Every other day? We strive to provide a valuable service to our community and need your help to keep us afloat. We need the financial support of our readers to be able to sustain this as a business. We don’t charge you Read the full story

As we celebrate our third anniversary online this month, DavidsonNews.net is continuing to explore new ways of doing business in the online local news world. Today, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve joined a regional reporting experiment in partnership with The Charlotte Observer and four other local news websites around Charlotte. Read the full story