In the last two years of the pandemic more than 70 news outlets have sprung up around the county, and about the same number of new community newsletters have launched as well. That’s according to a new report by Poynter. The report also notes that in that time, the pandemic has contributed to the shuttering of more than 100 U.S. newsrooms. Bradley Fuqua is a long time reporter who found himself without a job when the rapidly shrinking Philomath Express laid him off. That left the community more in need than ever of local news coverage. And that’s what led him to start the Philomath News, a one-person, digital news operation, as he describes it.

The Highway 58 Herald covers the area the name implies, communities along the highway’s corridor from Interstate 5 to Highway 97. George Custer is the cofounder of that small local outlet and says he decided to help launch it because Oakridge and the greater community of 25,000 deserved it. Fuqua and Custer join us to share their stories and tell us more about the communities their outlets cover.