(C) Idaho Capital Sun This story was originally published by Idaho Capital Sun and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Today is our 3rd birthday. Here’s how you can support the Idaho Capital Sun to make it to year 4. • Idaho Capital Sun [1] ['Christina Lords', 'Wade Vagias', 'Jon Jarvis', 'Rod Gramer', 'Rebecca Tallent', 'More From Author', 'March'] Date: 2024-03-31 Clark Corbin has covered every Idaho legislative session – gavel to gavel – since 2011. Rarely missing even a day of legislative action in those last 13 years, he first started covering state politics and policy for eastern Idaho’s Post Register newspaper, where he and I first met, before specializing in education coverage for Idaho Education News. When I first launched the Idaho Capital Sun three years ago today, I knew I needed experienced reporters who understood the Gem State’s complex issues inside and out for a strong reporting team. With that in mind, Clark was the first person I asked to take a chance and join me in establishing a new nonprofit journalism outlet for a state I’ve called home all my life. Since I graduated with my journalism degree from the University of Idaho in 2009, I’ve worked for newspaper companies throughout the state large and small. I’ve worked at an Idaho newspaper owned by a hedge fund, and I’ve worked at an Idaho newspaper owned for decades by a hardworking local family. Under our States Newsroom parent nonprofit, whose reach now has a news outlet or partner newsroom in all 50 states, we wanted to do things a bit differently. No advertising. No paid subscriptions. No corporate page view goals – or click quotas – for our journalists. Instead, I wanted to get back to the basics and focus on what I like to call “vegetable stories” – need-to-know information that every Idahoan should always have access to – for free. Clark, along with our talented reporters Kyle Pfannenstiel and Mia Maldonado, and with the help of our dedicated freelance photographer Otto Kitsinger, make it their aim to provide color, context, data and analysis to all of our coverage. Coverage of elections, campaign finance, and how Idahoans can access the ballot, and, sometimes, how few do. Coverage of the legislative process where lawmakers set state law and policy that affects us all, and coverage of the people that we send to the Statehouse to make those crucial decisions. Coverage of how our taxpayer dollars are spent, or sometimes just as importantly, how they aren’t. Hiring an experienced reporter like Clark has paid off time and time again. Clark’s expertise has shown to be particularly invaluable this year as the Idaho Legislature’s powerful budget committee, called the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, or JFAC as it’s known under the dome, has made substantial changes to how it operates each morning. He’s shown how this new system is different, with less time for the public to view the work legislators are doing during daily public hearings. He’s dissected controversial budget bills like the one for the Idaho Transportation Department, which has created a showdown between the state’s House and Senate and has held up adjournment for the year. He’s used his deep connections and sources to get scoops to show how sometimes, state budget decisions have been made not by legislators themselves, but by unelected analysts behind closed doors without the knowledge of the committee’s co-chairs. In our three years, we’ve won 31 awards for our coverage, but I’m more proud of the fact that each week, dozens of our stories get picked up by other Idaho news outlets in all corners of the state – for free – to supplement their own hard work covering Idaho’s issues and people. To ensure we can continue doing this work and providing it for free, I’m asking you today to financially support the Idaho Capital Sun or sign up for our free emailed newsletter, the Sunrise. I know there are many, many worthy causes and nonprofits in this state that deserve your hard-earned dollars. If you’ve found value in what we do, I hope you’ll help us celebrate our third birthday by considering a one-time or recurring donation. To those of you who already do and have been with us since the beginning, I couldn’t express more gratitude. Truly, from my heart: thank you, thank you, thank you. When I launched the Idaho Capital Sun on March 31, 2021, I had no idea what the future would hold. I told myself I’d give it a year to see if we could make it work and see if we could make a difference in our state. It’s my hope we’ll be able to keep bringing you the information you need for as long as we’re able. Thanks, again, for the support. We couldn’t do this without it. [END] --- [1] Url: https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/03/31/today-is-our-3rd-birthday-heres-how-you-can-support-the-idaho-capital-sun-to-make-it-to-year-4/ Published and (C) by Idaho Capital Sun Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/idahocapitalsun/