Heat City has launched a new Facebook fan page. Now you can become a fan of the site that Phoenix magazine recently called “a true marvel of D-I-Y journalism.”
Heat City has become recognized as an independent and award-winning source for news from Phoenix since it launched at the beginning of 2009. That’s happened because of the strong and continued support from its readers. Thank you. Let’s keep it going.
Over the past several weeks, a number of you have asked about being able to donate to Heat City. Well, today you get your wish. (Happy holidays and thanks in advance.)
It has been almost a year since this website was launched. In that time, readers have given generously to help pay for the cost of the original reporting. Quality journalism costs money, and in 2009, a few dozen readers have given an average of about $20 each to allow that to continue.
The year has been a pretty good one, too. Your generosity helped Heat City cover the gavel-to-gavel in the trials of Serial Shooter Dale Hausner and his accomplice, Sam Dieteman. You helped reveal a criminal investigation into Gilbert’s then-Mayor Steve Berman. You helped break news that two white supremacists had been arrested on suspicion of bombing Scottsdale government offices in 2004. You helped Heat City be the first to report that a California company wanted to close the Pulitzer Prize-winning East Valley Tribune, and then later that the same company had been giving its executives millions of dollars in bonuses in the process. And you helped me cover ongoing legal problems that some believe threaten the basic rule of law in Maricopa County.
Image by Darren Hester. Used under a Creative Commons license.
If you’re regular visitor to Heat City, you’ve undoubtedly seen an upswing over the past few weeks in the number of stories being posted here.
Back on June 25, the site was the first in the nation to break the news that two white supremacists — one with ties to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh — were arrested in Illinois on suspicion of sending a mail bomb to Scottsdale’s diversity office in 2004.
Over the past several weeks, a number of you have asked about being able to donate to Heat City. Well, today you get your wish. (Happy holidays and thanks in advance.)