Lives upended and lost, but hope remains: Help us continue to tell those stories
Dear readers:
The coronavirus pandemic has brought significant challenges to our families and our communities. Businesses hurting. A staggering loss of jobs. Heartbreaking losses of life. Stress from having our daily routines turned inside out.
It has also sparked stories of courage, giving and inspiration. At The State, we feel a significant responsibility to report and share as full a picture as possible so you can make the best decisions for your particular needs.
In the past two months, our team has published 673 stories, plus dozens of videos, Q&As, newsletters and voice updates. We’ve covered the breaking news, the ever-changing preparations made and precautions taken. We’ve told personal stories of heroism and loss, posted a steady stream of utility information and provided exclusive enterprise journalism.
John Monk told the story of six people who attended the same funeral and then died from the virus. Sammy Fretwell detailed the dangers faced by front-line workers at Prisma, and Travis Bland’s “Set up to fail” examined the looming crisis of renters who have lost their jobs but still have bills to pay.
And we partnered with newsrooms across the state to bring you “Life at a Distance,” a special report bringing home the human impact of the virus across different walks of life, beautifully stitched together by our own Sarah Ellis.
We’re still offering non-coronavirus coverage as well, of course. Like Andrew Caplan’s exclusive investigative piece on nearly $500,000 in unaccounted money that lawmakers sent to a nonprofit with ties to Sen. Darrell Jackson.
We’ve followed an iconic dive bar’s fight to keep its liquor license, and the closing of the famed Yesterday’s restaurant.
We are grateful we can be here for you.
And like you, we are stressed. About our health and our jobs.
The pandemic has brought layoffs, furloughs and salary reductions to newsrooms large and small across the country. Like so many local businesses, we are not immune to today’s economic realities.
The first few weeks of the pandemic, we made all of our coronavirus coverage free to everyone, whether they subscribed or not. Since then, we’ve scaled back. Breaking news and public health and safety information is still free, but other coverage has been restored to subscriber-only status.
Subscriptions are critical to our ability to sustain local news coverage and to our future. If you aren’t subscribing, please consider doing so by visiting thestate.com/subscribe.
If you’d like to help and you’re a subscriber, you can now make a tax-deductible donation to preserve local journalism. We have partnered with the nonprofit Local Media Foundation, which is accepting contributions on our behalf. Donate by visiting givebutter.com/thestate.
Your tax-deductible gift will help us continue to report fully on the coronavirus’ impact on our communities. We aim to raise $85,000 to keep our reporters reporting, our videographers recording and our editors at work to bring you the news.
With help from the Local Media Foundation, your gift goes directly to sustaining The State and, more specifically, its newsroom.
We realize many in our community are hurting. For some, a subscription or a donation is not an option. We understand and we will continue working to provide you with critical information for free as long as we can.
But if you’re able, please consider supporting our work in one of these ways. Our ability to continue serving you depends on it.
Brian Tolley is the executive editor of The State newspaper.
This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Lives upended and lost, but hope remains: Help us continue to tell those stories."