The clock is ticking. At midnight, our campaign to launch Albany Scanner ends.

We have four hours left to claim the remaining dollars in our $11,000 matching pool and hit our fundraising target.

Every single dollar from this campaign will fund reporting, not overhead. That's our commitment to you.

If you haven't given yet, now is the moment when your contribution matters most.

The plan: Once we hit our goal, we hire reporters to start publishing as soon as possible about topics that affect your life.

The promise:

• No paywalls: News for everyone in Albany
• No agendas: Just high-quality, independent journalism
• Total transparency: Reader-supported and community-focused

This is the final countdown. Help us cross the finish line and ensure Albany is never left behind by the news again.

If you’re considering a tax-deductible major gift of $1,000 or more, please email Albany Scanner for instructions.

Let’s launch this newsroom together!

Thank you for standing up for local news,

Emilie Raguso (Albany Scanner publisher) and the Albany News Project

P.S. We’re so close — but we can’t unlock the full $11,000 match without you. Don’t let this opportunity slip by. Join us today!

This is it! There's just one day left to help launch Albany Scanner with an extra boost from an $11,000 matching gift.

Albany Scanner will be 100% reader-supported, meaning we answer only to you — not corporate owners or political agendas.

Why give today? ➡️

• 2x the impact: Every gift now helps us unlock an $11,000 matching gift, resulting in up to $22,000 in new contributions to Albany Scanner
• $50 becomes $100: Supports on-the-ground coverage of community protests, public meetings and local events
• $250 becomes $500: Funds a deep dive into planning documents and public records

We believe Albany is worth the investment. Don't let our community’s history and daily news continue to go uncovered.

If you’re considering a tax-deductible major gift of $1,000 or more, please email Albany Scanner for instructions.

Let’s launch this newsroom together!

Emilie Raguso 
Publisher, Albany Scanner

P.S. Independent local news doesn’t happen without community support. Your gift today helps ensure Albany has the coverage it deserves — and it’s doubled right now.

It's the final stretch. Our campaign to Bring News Back to Albany ends in just two days.

If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to chip in, this week is your last chance to help launch Albany Scanner.

We have a massive opportunity to raise $22,000 by April 30 thanks to an $11,000 matching pool from the Albany Community Foundation and a generous anonymous donor.

Your gift right now will be doubled to help us launch a comprehensive news outlet for Albany.

What’s at stake? With your help, we will provide:

• Professional reporting: We'll publish fact-based, unbiased journalism on City Hall, housing, schools and the most important questions of the day.
• Civic accountability: Who is tracking Albany elections or the impacts of school district budget shifts?
• Your history: Without independent news, Albany’s stories and "small discoveries" fade away.

Every dollar we raise in this campaign pays for professional reporting for Albany. Let's not leave this $11,000 matching gift on the table.

With gratitude,

Emilie Raguso 
Publisher, Albany Scanner

P.S. Thanks to our $11,000 match, your gift today has double the impact — but only until April 30. Help us make the most of it.

I’m Karen Sorensen. I moved to Albany 24 years ago and my husband and I raised our two children here. Our daughters attended Albany schools, from Albany Preschool through Albany High, and over the years we got to know many families through youth soccer, cross country running, choir and more.

I’ve also had a long career as a writer, which began to focus on local history after we moved to Albany. I worked on a history book with the Albany Historical Society for our 2008 centennial, and wrote history articles for The Journal and Albany Patch (when they still featured local reporting). In 2020 I published a second book that expanded our city’s historical stories.

For much of this work, I utilized historical news articles, a vital source of information.

While other sources, like city records, are also important for historical research, it’s the independent news articles that can fully immerse you in the time period and reveal the nuances and bigger picture of our past.

I’ll always remember digging through old news stories that exposed a more complex history about Albany’s incorporation. It was not just about preventing Berkeley from dumping garbage here — the story passed down for years. There was a much bigger problem of bubonic plague and rats attracted to garbage dumps. 

Today, Albany has no news coverage and much of what happens in our city goes unreported. The importance of this loss — for both current and future residents (and future historians) — cannot be overemphasized.

That’s a big reason I joined the Albany News Project, a group of local residents working to "Bring News Back to Albany."

Last week, our effort was bolstered by a new matching pool of up to $11,000. That could help us raise $22,000 by April 30.

Our ask today, in our final week of fundraising: Don't leave matching dollars on the table.

Communities around the country are coming together to restore their local news coverage — they know social media can't preserve our local history. 

Let’s make sure Albany does not leave its news and history behind.

Thank you so much for supporting this important effort,

Karen Sorensen
The Albany News Project

P.S. We have just one week left to meet our $11,000 match and start working to preserve Albany history for generations to come. Thanks for helping.

We've said it before: Albany deserves a professional, dedicated local news outlet.

And today we're excited to announce a massive boost to help us get there: We've lined up an $11,000 matching pool to "Bring News Back to Albany" — thanks to two huge supporters: the Albany Community Foundation and a generous anonymous donor.

This means every dollar you give will be doubled.

Raising the full match now will bring in $22,000 to hire the reporters we need to write the stories Albany has been missing.

See your impact grow

• $50 becomes $100: Fund nuanced coverage of Albany meetings, from City Council to the school board — and more
• $300 becomes $600: Support on-the-ground reporting of Albany events
• $500 becomes $1,000: Accelerate our in-depth "deep dive" stories

And we want to assure you: We aren't waiting to get started. We're already working on our Albany job listing so we can leap into action May 1. That's how much we believe in you!

Together, let's make sure Albany news no longer gets left behind. Every gift makes a critical difference in making Albany Scanner a reality.

With gratitude,

Emilie Raguso & The Albany News Project

P.S. Help us take advantage of the full $11,000 match so we leave no support on the table. Help us launch stronger!

Learn more about the Albany Community Foundation.

I'm Michael Cabanatuan. Many of my Albany friends and acquaintances know that I wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle for 27 years — including the entirety of my time in Albany — before retiring about a year ago.

That may be why some of you are seeing me around town more. And why I’ve joined the Albany News Project, a community campaign to develop a local news site, Albany Scanner.

But my journalism career didn’t start at the Chronicle. Before joining the "Voice of the West" (the paper’s one-time motto), I worked for the Modesto Bee, the West County Times and the Paradise Post, my first paper.

Like many young journalists, I worked my way up to bigger newspapers, eager not only to make a little more money but to make more of a difference and to have more influence and, you know, change the world.

But the truth is, the biggest impact I had may have been at the smallest newspaper.

In Paradise, I quickly realized, most of the town’s residents wouldn’t know about important issues or pending decisions unless my colleagues and I wrote about them. My stories could determine whether two or three people or more than 100 showed up for a Town Council meeting.

My stories also had direct impact. They helped get a community auditorium and senior center built in Paradise. And I let people know about the financial and environmental costs of being the largest city in California without a sewer system. And many, many more issues.

I’ve lived in Albany now for about 25 years. My wife Adrianne and I raised our son Ben here. He attended Cornell, Albany Middle and Albany High schools, played Albany Little League and for the Cyclones baseball team, and threw discus and shot put at the high school. As parents, we were active in the PTA, Boy Scouts and served as parent leaders and fans and fundraisers for various sports teams.

While Albany, unlike Paradise, may have a sewer system, it has its own news and controversies that need and deserve coverage. That became clear last week when the word came (through large news outlets) of the pending sale of Golden Gate Fields.

When I first moved to Albany, there was a modicum of regular news coverage in The Journal, a weekly paper that covered El Cerrito, Albany and Kensington. It usually amounted to just a couple of stories a week. In time, coverage diminished then all but disappeared. Albany Patch provided robust news coverage for a couple of years then shifted to a different model without local reporting.

So now we’re left without coverage of important news like Albany’s upcoming elections, new and disappearing businesses on Solano and San Pablo avenues, even the state of the city’s wildlife — coyotes and turkeys. And much, much more — including the futures of the Albany Twin and Albany Bowl and what will happen if Golden Gate Fields is transitioned to a park.

There is plenty of news to cover in our one-square-mile community. What’s missing is a local news source with dedicated, professional reporting based on facts instead of opinion and hearsay. An informed community is a stronger community.

That’s where the Albany News Project — and you — come in. We have a goal of raising enough money by April 30 for Albany Scanner to start publishing fact-based news as soon as possible.

Please help us Bring News Back to Albany by becoming a making a gift today.

Sincerely,

Michael Cabanatuan
Albany News Project

P.S. Today is Local News Day, and more than 1,000 news outlets are celebrating the essential role local news plays in our everyday lives. If you agree, please consider chipping in now.

Over the weekend, the Chronicle ran photographs from "No Kings" protests in San Francisco and Oakland. Other local papers did, too.

But there were no pictures of the hundreds of people lining San Pablo Avenue from Marin to Solano Avenue, and beyond.

It was yet another reminder that Albany needs its own news outlet — and soon.

Then, on Tuesday, early plans to transform Golden Gate Fields into a park rocked the Bay Area.

Our sister site, The Berkeley Scanner, covered the story — along with outlets throughout the region.

Golden Gate Fields deal set to create sweeping public park

Officials announced the effort Tuesday, calling it a “dream come true” and a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

The Berkeley ScannerEmilie Raguso

But there's a long way to go and so much more to learn. Countless questions remain.

• Where will the money come from to make the buy?
• What will the lost revenue mean for the city and school district?
• Who will maintain the park and keep it safe?
• Who will win the naming rights?

This is just the type of story we can't wait to cover closely when Albany Scanner is up and running.

We'll solicit all your questions and work to chase down answers.

So far, we've raised $33,000 from 150 people during our "Bring News Back to Albany" campaign, entirely through grassroots support from readers like you.

Our all-volunteer team is working hard to close the gap — and each day brings us closer to our $50,000 goal. We hope we can count on you to get us to the finish line by April 30.

The sooner we get there, the sooner we can start publishing the critical coverage Albany deserves.

Sincerely,
Emilie Raguso, publisher

P.S. Albany's biggest challenge in supporting a news site is its size. We believe the numbers will pencil out — with your help. Please consider chipping in now.

I'm Peter Goodman. I’ve lived in Albany for over 40 years. Two kids through all 12 years of Albany schools.

I walk everywhere and notice the broken sidewalks and new businesses. I dodge the cars and sometimes I am the car. I’m nosy about new construction and worry about overbuilding, climate change and public safety.

In short, I’m invested in Albany. As are you, I bet.

Just about everything that happens here affects me and my quality of life. When I first moved here in the 1980s, I subscribed to three newspapers: one national and two local.

Over time, the papers shrank their staffs and their reporting. At some point I ditched everything but the New York Times. I needed national news, because whatever nefarious schemes Washington hatched would impact me at some point.

But the local papers stopped covering Albany, except maybe for a food truck review or some curious crime story. So I gave up on them just as they had given up on me.

But I did not give up on the news.

In November 2023, I got inspired and began writing to friends, asking, Why can’t we have a proper news site dedicated to Albany?

I had two key requirements:

1. that the site be impartial, nonpartisan and information oriented; that is, not issue driven or politically motivated (but it does investigate, and fairness, justice, honesty and democracy matter)
2. that the site adhere to the highest standards of journalism (fact-based reporting, well written and edited, sources verified)

In time, our informal advocacy group became the Albany News Project.

We are now working with Emilie Raguso and Albany Scanner to raise $50,000 by April 30 to pay for high-quality news reporting, now and into the future.

The internet is full of opinions. A lot of what you see on NextDoor is both informative and entertaining. But it’s not journalism.

It takes real skill and professional experience to sit through a City Council meeting or plow through a planning document and then summarize it clearly and succinctly so that ordinary voters (people like me) can truly understand what’s at stake.

If you care about Albany, its schools, its future, the life it offers residents, stay informed and help bring to Albany just the kind of news you want to read.

Sincerely,

Peter Goodman
The Albany News Project

P.S. In our small town, every subscriber will make a difference if we want to bring news back to Albany. Please consider chipping in now.

My name is Mary Flaherty and I've lived in Albany since 2000. My child went to Marin school, I ran WriterCoach Connection at AMS for 9 years, and taught flute in our grade schools for 11 years.

I have also reported for Albany news outlets over the years. That's why I joined the Albany News Project (the group heading up this fundraiser). We're determined to "Bring News Back to Albany," and we're well on our way to raising the $50,000 needed to hire a reporter. To everyone who has supported us already, thank you so very much!

Good news if you haven't given yet: This week, all contributions to Albany Scanner, up to $5,000, will be doubled through Sunday, March 15, thanks to a matching gift from a generous donor.

In 1995, I covered City Council, and more, as a freelancer for the Albany Journal. What I loved most was telling stories that were small discoveries, like the Bone Room on Solano Avenue (now gone). In 2004, I wrote about the winter colony of monarch butterflies on Albany Hill for the SF Chronicle. In 2012, I wrote for Albany Patch about the Occupy the Farm protests on UC land in Albany — and the university researchers who worked there.

Having worked for eight Bay Area news outlets, I know how many wonderful stories are out there — beyond the police beat, city hall and the school board. I want to see those kinds of stories about Albany again.

Just like I was paid for my work, reporters for Albany Scanner deserve fair payment from the start. I hope the promise of a news site dedicated to Albany motivates you to chip in, knowing your support will be matched through Sunday.

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Mary Flaherty
The Albany News Project

P.S. Your gift of any size will help us meet this important milestone and stay on pace with our fundraising efforts. The more people give, the faster we can "start the presses!"

Two weeks ago we asked for your help bringing independent news back to Albany.

The response has been humbling — we’ve raised $13,000 toward our $50,000 goal.

We're grateful for every person who has already contributed to the "Bring News Back to Albany" campaign. Your support is drawing more attention to our efforts.

But we still have ground to cover, and we need your help to get there. Fortunately, an anonymous donor has generously agreed to match the next $5,000 we raise! 

That means every dollar given to launch Albany Scanner will be doubled until March 15, or once we hit $5,000, whichever comes first.

What's going on with Marin Avenue and how long will the project take? What will become of Albany Bowl? What does the school district plan to tackle this year?

These are Albany stories — and right now, no one is telling them. Albany Scanner’s mission is to change that. But only if we can raise $50,000 by April 30.

Every dollar we raise in this campaign goes directly toward reporting. No overhead — just professional reporters covering the stories that matter here.

And the faster we reach our goal, the sooner we can launch.

If you've been meaning to give, now is the moment, knowing your support will be doubled. And if you're already a member — we thank you! Please consider sharing this campaign with a friend or neighbor who cares about Albany.

Questions? Email us at fundraising@albanyscanner.com.

With gratitude,

Emilie Raguso (publisher, Albany Scanner) and your neighbors at the Albany News Project (our volunteer advisory group)

P.S. Interested in making a new matching gift of $1,000 or more to Albany Scanner? We have special information for you — just reply to this email.

We’re launching a new local news site, Albany Scanner, to report on Albany’s most vital stories — which currently go uncovered.

But we can’t do it alone.

Please help us jumpstart this effort by making a direct gift today!

We need to raise $50,000 by April 30 so we can start to publish stories. 

• All the money we raise in the "Bring News Back to Albany" campaign will go toward reporting and reporting alone
• After we reach this target, we’ll bring on professional freelancers and start to publish stories as we build our sustainable newsroom through monthly memberships
• Our ultimate plan is to hire a dedicated reporter, who will live and breathe Albany news, once we hit 500 monthly members

But we’ll say it again: We can’t get there without you.

If you believe Albany deserves independent, unbiased news coverage, consider becoming a Sustaining Member today.

Any amount helps, and we have special instructions for those interested in making a major gift of $1,000 or more.

All gifts will be crucial as we build community support to get Albany Scanner off the ground.

Questions? Email fundraising@albanyscanner.com.

Thank you,

Albany Scanner publisher Emilie Raguso (The Berkeley Scanner, Albany Patch, Berkeleyside) and your neighbors at the Albany News Project

P.S. Please join us today in giving as generously as you can to the "Bring News Back to Albany" campaign. Many thanks!

But the site is fortunate to have the dedicated backing of the Albany News Project, a volunteer group of residents and professional journalists who are committed to supporting a local news site that is timely, credible, informative and unbiased.

The Albany News Project will serve as an advisory group for Albany Scanner, offering input on community needs and interests throughout the year.

The Albany News Project will also provide energy and organization for ongoing fundraising, helping develop events and build relationships with supporters in a variety of ways.

As a primary force helping to ensure Albany Scanner's longterm sustainability, the Albany News Project will also receive financial reports on a regular basis.

The advisory group will not engage in news gathering or direct editorial policy.

Albany News Project members

Tod Abbott grew up in Walnut Creek, graduated from Cal and holds a master's in philosophy from Northwestern University. Tod is a self-employed web developer as well as an inveterate volunteer. He serves on the boards of the Albany Chamber of Commerce, Solano Avenue Association and Albany Community Foundation, and as a Parks, Recreation & Open Space commissioner.

Michael Cabanatuan has lived the Albany life for nearly 25 years — schools, PTA, Boy Scouts, Music in the Park, Little League and patronizing local businesses— as he and his wife, Adrianne, raised their son, Ben. During that time, he worked as a journalist, reporting on transportation and general news for the San Francisco Chronicle, from which he recently retired. He’s also worked at the Paradise Post, West County Times and Modesto Bee.

Mary Flaherty has worked in the news business for 20 years. She has a journalism degree from UC Berkeley and has worked as a reporter, copyeditor and editor for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, some East Bay dailies and Berkeleyside. She covered Albany for The Journal in 1995 and wrote freelance for Albany Patch. She also ran the WriterCoach Connection program at Albany Middle School for 10 years.

Peter Goodman is owner of Albany-based book publisher Stone Bridge Press. He has served as in-house editor, ghost writer, translator and project manager on over 400 Japan- and Asia-related titles. Peter moved to Albany in 1985 after 10 years living in Japan and the UK. He is currently on the board of the Publishing Professionals Network.

Bryan Marten is a 20+-year resident of Albany who helped raise two children in Albany and serves on the Albany Parks, Recreation & Open Space Commission. He volunteers in leadership roles in local and regional nonprofits. He has a B.S. in chemical physics and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and worked in the pharmaceutical industry doing computer-assisted drug design. He has been a high school science teacher for 25+ years.

Ken McCroskey is an East Bay native and Albany community activist and parent who has engaged with the city of Albany and community organizations to improve safety around transportation, and otherwise improve Albany, for 20+ years. He has helped plan, organize, publicize and run many events and publications in Albany. Ken spent his early career as an information designer for a biotech firm where he helped scientists communicate complex ideas clearly.

Chris Noble has 30+ years of experience in journalism, including a decade each with Reuters and MarketWatch. He is currently head of content of Yahoo Finance’s personal finance business. He has also worked at three Bay Area news startups, including as the founding editor of Knowhere, which explored the uses of AI in producing unbiased news. He moved to Albany with his wife and sons in 2005.

Susannah Patton is an experienced writer, editor and communications professional. She got her start in journalism covering local news in the Boston area and has written for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and other news outlets. A San Francisco native, she moved to Albany with her husband and two sons in 2005. She is currently editorial director for a national affordable housing nonprofit.

Nick Pilch is a 25-year resident of Albany. His son attended Albany schools. Nick served on the City Council from 2015 to 2020, was mayor in 2020, and has served on city commissions for a total of 12 years, serving currently on the Planning & Zoning Commission. Nick was a founder of several community organizations and efforts, including a Facebook page, News for Albany.

Karen Sorensen is a local-history author, independent historical researcher and East Bay native. Her two books on Albany history include Albany: Stories from the Village by the Bay and Albany: Images of America (the latter in conjunction with the Albany Historical Society). Her background includes work as a staff/freelance journalist, photo editor and nonprofit fundraiser. She and her husband raised their two children in Albany.

Learn more on the Albany News Project website.

To that end, we've just published a tip form to make it easy for you to share your thoughts.

News tips for Albany Scanner

Help us decide what to cover when we complete our fundraising campaign for a news reporter.

Albany ScannerEditor

Even though we aren't quite ready to start reporting, we want to build a database of ideas to help our writers know what you want them to pursue in the months ahead.

In addition, we'd love to start compiling your photographs right now to publish on the site and Instagram as we build momentum.

You can email photo submissions to tips@albanyscanner.com anytime.

We can't wait to hear from you as we work to build Albany Scanner into a comprehensive news site that will quickly become required reading.

This year, we’ve been hard at work thinking through everything that needs to happen to make the site a reality. And we’ve made some big decisions.

So what’s the plan? The site — Albany Scanner — will cover all things Albany and be the trusted, authoritative source you need on Albany politics, schools, local business, public safety, housing, transportation — and everything else you can imagine.

Our ultimate goal is regular news coverage (5-10 stories a week, to include freelance and community contributions) following an initial ramp-up period as we build our paid subscriber base and firm up the budget.

We’ll also produce a newsletter and allow comments to foster dialogue and debate.

Who’s behind this? Emilie Raguso (The Berkeley Scanner, Albany Patch, Berkeleyside) will oversee the site as publisher with help from a community advisory group, the Albany News Project, who will support Albany Scanner through fundraising and volunteerism.

Who will cover the news? In time, we’ll hire a full-time reporter who will oversee the site and produce stories with freelance support. For the first 6-12 months, as we see what the market will bear, we’ll rely on trusted freelance reporters to get the job done. Editorial operations will be independent and objective — there’s no political agenda.

How will it be funded? The Scanner will rely largely on monthly subscriptions to fund the reporting.

Major gifts of $1,000 or more will be tax deductible if made through Bay City News Foundation, our fiscal sponsor.

There will be no paywall — we want everyone to be able to read the Scanner.

But we can’t make this happen without substantial community support. In a town Albany's size, every single member will make a critical difference if we want to ensure a sustainable news operation in the years ahead.

Our promise: We will be responsive and accountable to the Albany community as we work to build a comprehensive news site that will quickly become required daily reading.

What’s next for Albany Scanner?

• Make sure to subscribe for updates on our plans
• Share this news with your friends and neighbors so they know what's in the works: Word-of-mouth will be crucial as we get up to speed
• Consider making a one-time gift to help launch the Scanner: All money raised via this message will fund reporting on the site and won't be used for any other purpose
• Able to dig deeper? Consider a tax-deductible major gift of $1,000 or more to help us launch sooner
• Follow us on Instagram

Learn more about the Albany News Project, a volunteer initiative organized by Albany citizens to support accurate and timely news reporting that serves the community.