As it stands today, readers have donated $475 to help me continue original reporting you generally won’t find anywhere else. That’s a little over $100 a week since I began taking donations. Along with your gifts, many of you have said you like stories about local media happenings, so I’ve been trying to post more of them.

Lastly, the work that you’ve supported has been getting some attention from media watchers. A crew from the local PBS affiliate, KAET-TV (Channel 8), came out to the Maricopa County courthouse last week and interviewed me for a segment titled “Future of Journalism” on their nightly news magazine , Horizon. The crew also talked to the folks at the online Capitol news startup, the Arizona Guardian, as well as a journalism professor at Arizona State University. The segment airs tonight at 7 p.m.

Don’t worry if you can’t catch the show tonight. Being the savvy people they are, the team at Horizon posts segments online after the broadcast. I’ll either embed the video on Heat City or link to it once it goes online.

I’ve said it in past posts, but it’s worth saying again: Thank you all for your continued support and help. I can’t do it without you.

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.

I’m not sure yet what I’ll be talking about, but it will probably include some of the final statements he made this morning while answering questions from the jury. Tune in to KNXV-TV (Channel 15) at about 6:45 a.m. to watch. Who knows? Maybe I’ll have a surprise tidbit for you. I’ll try to think of one.

Funding update

Donations are steadily coming in for the work I’m doing here at HEAT CITY. In the first week, a handful of generous donors have given $155, buttressed by two top donors who gave $50 each, to keep the website going. Basically, think of it this way: Community members have essentially paid for either the web hosting for this site, or else the mobile Internet connection that keeps me live blogging from anywhere. I’m still asking for another $1,845 to pay my bills for a month worth of quality reporting. But I owe a big thanks to you to those of you who have already given.

So give if you can. Even a buck or two will help. You could even pool your money with a few friends or coworkers around the office and pitch in. Every little bit counts.

HEAT CITY gets another shout out

ABC 15 has been having me on regularly and (graciously) plugging my website on air and at abc15.com. The staff members over there deserve as much thanks as I can throw their way. But they’re not the only ones noticing. The blog received some props over at the Phoenix New Times today for my posting of the leaked memo from Arizona Republic publisher John Zidich regarding the unpaid week off all of his employees are being forced to take by their parent, Gannett Company.

Ray Stern, my former colleague a few years back at the East Valley Tribune, had this to say:

If daily newspapers go under, it could be sites like Martin’s that Phoenix residents will turn to for news. But if times are tough at a big newspaper like the Republic, they’re even tougher on entrepreneurs like Martin, who’s forced to scrounge for the few dollars to make his tiny operation work.

It’s true. I’ll take the plug. But I’ll also bow and say thanks to the readers who are sending me story tips and leaking vital news. You are the lifeblood of community-powered journalism.

Appreciate the work you see here? Donate today.

Use the space to talk about the subjects, add to the stories and correct my mistakes. I want to hear from you, and others do, too. I won’t make any rules, really, but use your common sense. Look at it this way: The HEAT CITY community helped me find the tool to power the discussion, and hopefully the same community will put it to use.

Early this morning, shortly after wrapping up things on television and before heading to the trial, I added a little button to the right-hand column of the site. It asks you to help support my work in another way: financially.

The idea behind it is that quality, in-depth reporting takes time and money. The broadband card I use to access the internet in the courtroom, for instance, costs $40 a month. Government agencies in Arizona charge as much as 50 cents a page for public records. And sometimes, you just have to buy a source lunch to get the inside track on a big story. (Some of the biggest stories of my career have been spilled over burgers or beers.)

In this case, I hope the reporting on HEAT CITY benefits its readers with some insight and a few surprises. And so, I’m asking you to support it with a little cash. In exchange, I’m going to occasionally give you a public accounting of my expenses. You’ll know exactly how much money I spend on records, meals, parking, and the like. It’s the ultimate transparency. Also, whether you’re a contributor or not, I answer to you. So ask, criticize and suggest away. Send me a correction if I make a mistake in a post. Let me know if you read something you like. And while you’re at it, tell a friend or two about HEAT CITY.

Without further delay, here are my expenses so far:

Cricket broadband Internet access card and setup: $149.81

Heatcity.org domain registration: $15.19

Serialshooter.com domain registration (points to trial coverage): $10.19

Website hosting, one year: $79.63

Transportation to and parking at courthouse: $35

Total: $289.75

This does not take into account rent, electricity and insurance at my shared Tempe apartment or the cell phone that most of my sources use to reach me.

The service I’m using to accept donations is PayPal, which I hope you already know and trust. It lets you donate amounts as low as $1 to help support HEAT CITY and Arizona journalism

Editor’s note:

No sooner did I start composing this post than I received my first donation: $20 from a Phoenix area journalist. We’re on our way! Thank you.