I continue to be flattered and surprised by the generous support from readers of this site. This week, less than two weeks into accepting donations, your contributions surpassed my startup costs for HEAT CITY. I originally spent $289.75 to buy a domain name, get a year of hosting, pay for a little card that lets me access the Internet from anywhere, and park for one week near the downtown Phoenix courthouse where Dale Hausner is on trial.
Well, this week, a few generous donations brought the total giving to $300, essentially reimbursing me for those costs. So I owe you all a big thanks. This website has been a labor of love from the beginning. Readers deserve quality information and news, and I’m trying to deliver it, hopefully with some success.
I wouldn’t be able to do it without reader support. Even if you can’t give a dollar or two, your e-mails, links, comments and story tips help immensely.
In the past few weeks of reporting, I’ve managed to post a whopping 63 entries. Many of them have been live-from-the-courtroom coverage of the Serial Shooter trial. At least four have been story tips from readers. Two have been from anonymous tipsters. Many were exclusive stories that you couldn’t read anywhere else.
Several people, including journalist Justin McLachlan in San Diego, reporter Ray Stern at the Phoenix New Times and media watcher Jim Romenesko at the Poynter Institute, have linked to this site on occasion, raising awareness of my work.
There is still a long way to go to reach the goal of raising $2,000 by Feb. 15. My continued costs of reporting and blogging come out to about $50 a week, not to mention general living expenses. The total is less than I was making as a full-time state and federal courts reporter here in the Valley, and you can be assured that the money is going directly to help fund transparent, quality journalism. Donate as little as $1 to keep it going.