MnIndy going forward

That’s a shame. An independent voice focused on local affairs was very useful.

Very distressing…….please give us more info……

Although I didn’t agree with Birkey on a lot of what he wrote, he is a good reporter.

We don’t need more national news, we need more local news!

This is a real loss. Very sad.

We will miss the local reporting of the Anoka Hennepin School District and giving the other side of the story that wasn’t being heard in my area. Thank you for all you did. We will need to find another way to get the news out.

Sincerely,
Councilwoman Laurie Olmon

What attracted me to MnIndy was coverage of local stuff. Before you go, can you recommend another good independent news blog focusing on Minnesota coverage.

@FatFriar – you could try minnpost.com

I echo that what we need is more local not national news. I certainly am not interested in a national independent news. Local reporting is what made the AIN valuable. I valued the other state’s local news as well. I’m truly sorry this business model did not succeed. Thanks for the minnpost.com recommendation. It’s better than nothing, but still too close to the Strib’s reporting.

Is this because of the suit opened bt Bradlee Dean?

Is this because of the suit opened by Bradlee Dean?

I’m another who supports more local news rather than a consolidation into national news. It’s local coverage that drew me to the site and made MIN a daily ‘must read’ for me.

@Thomas All the state sites are getting closed. Besides, the parent still exists, so I assume they’re still stuck with the suit until it gets laughed out of court.

Sad

Typical “front office” decisions. At a time when consumers want/desire more local reporting/news there is a decision to consolidate and water down the local. This is sad and backward thinking that does not match the consumer trend. But…hey…that’s my business what would I know… ;-)

I hope that some of the local reporting will transfer to the parent site. The network of local reporting has been the differentiator that attracted me to the Independent Network.

If this is a consolidation of hosting resources and blogging software, I see this as a good move.

If this will result in substantial pruning of local reporting, then I am going to be disappointed.

I hope they keep the key local reporters.

I am baffled. I often frequent the other “Independent” news sites and have found that Minnesota Independent was always the most active. A large majority of the stories on the other sites wouldn’t even have a single comment. A sad, sad day indeed. Maybe we can get Andy to investigate and report on this as well.

thanks for the service you provided. Now I’m even more dependent on the TC Daily Planet for the local news.

That’s a shame. This is a great site to check on my home state and see developments not widely covered such as Minnesota for Marriage’s use of gift cards to persuade voters.

It would be a great idea to provide links to regional news on the main site. Quality journalism is so rare these days; wish the MN Independent staff the best going forward.

Your absence leaves a hole that will hopefully be filled by other committed reporters. On side note, the request for donations just before the termination notification is ethically questionable.

I’m very sorry we’ll be losing the great local coverage that MNIndy provided. As others have said, it has been a go-to source for the inside scoop on local news.

Thanks to all who worked so hard to bring us news we found nowhere else.

I agree, we don’t need more national news, we need local connections that can keep an eye on what is happening in small towns across the country. Where are the Post offices closing?? What is happening in Benton Harbor, MI??Has the Amazon warehouse cleaned up its worker abuse in PA. Why not make the INDEPENDENT something like the “Patches”. It seems to work. Where the locals can feed into the main stream.

Why not have a Minnesota “local news” link on your national site? What is the driver for the decision? Expense? Advertising revenue? Traffic volume?

I’m really sad to see this fantastic local news source go. I hope there will be some local MN coverage on the national site. And I hope Andy Birkey gets to keep his job – he’s a very talented reporter.

Ditto to Shannon’s comment above about Andy Birkey – he’s why I visit this site!