Cooperation working with Iowa Statehouse coverage

Since January you have benefitted from a cooperative effort to cover state government by reporters from The Gazette and five Iowa newspapers in the Lee Enterprises chain.

Editors from these newspapers gathered last week to assess an agreement leading to this cooperation and concluded that we like it and want it to continue.

Agreements like this guiding news organizations that share reporting and writing are but one way we all can contain costs but still ensure that you get news and information you demand. More important for you than the cost savings, this arrangement has freed up time reporters previously spent duplicating stories the others were writing so that they can pursue more news.

Here is how this works in our case: Instead of running two bureaus -- one by The Gazette and one by the Lee papers -- our newspapers set up one Des Moines bureau. The reporters still work for the same companies as they did before the arrangement but coordinate their work and then send it to all of the participating papers.

The reporting Rod Boshart and James Q. Lynch, of The Gazette, and Charlotte Eby, with the Lee papers, have done this past year has enriched all of our newspapers and Web outlets. You've been informed about hot button matters like Iowa's state budget crisis, the film industry tax credit scandal and the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling. These reporters also have been there for regular coverage of the Iowa General Assembly and state government in general.

Besides the newspaper, you can catch coverage online at www.coveringiowapolitics.com/ The Lee newspapers in this working agreement are the Quad-City Times, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Mason City Globe Gazette, Sioux City Journal and Muscatine Journal.

We're a little less than two months away from the start of the next legislative session but already looking forward to a series of stories leading up to that session that we'll tell you more about when the time comes in January. Our goal will be giving you easy-to-grasp explanations of issues state government leaders will be asked to solve on your behalf, and information about these legislators as well.

Turning in the tab on Gazette coffees

Gazette staffers will be in Manchester at Betty's Bread Basket Wednesday morning, Nov. 18, for the newspaper's last community coffee of the year. We will be there from 9 to 10:30 a.m. to meet with you, hear your comments, answer your questions and pay for coffee.

We have gone to Eastern Iowa communities for monthly coffees for 28 years. But over that time residents' work schedules and community habits have changed. Because of that we have decided to let these sessions end their run for good and cash in the final tab.

Maybe your town still hangs onto the tradition, and that's a good thing for your local cafes and community. But people in many towns don't drop by local spots for midmorning coffee as much as they may have in the past. Coffee seems to have evolved into something you grab on your way into work, many times out of town, instead of a pleasure you take during a morning break down the street.

The Gazette still is interested in coming to your community, even though we won't do coffees anymore. If you have an event or forum that you would like us to participate in I'd be glad to hear from you at the phone number or e-mail listed below:

(319) 398-8210

lyle.muller@gazcomm.com