The Monroe Gazette Is Dead
The (new) Monroe Gazette is an email newsletter (which you’re reading) that borrowed its name from the original, which was a newspaper published in Monroe, New York, from 1908 to 1982. New stories are released at least once per week, but depending on the flow of local news stories, you may get more than that. (Especially when there’s an election looming.)
About BJ
The newsletter is written and edited by B.J. Mendelson, a journalist, and author of such books as Social Media Is Bullshit from St. Martin’s Press, Privacy: And How We Get It Back from Curious Reads — which became The End of Privacy on Audible — and a new book currently in development. BJ has also ghostwritten two books, one of which became a bestseller in its category on Amazon.
This newsletter covers local news in New York’s Southern Orange County — with a focus on the Towns and Villages of Monroe and Woodbury — and national issues. (We tried to focus only on local stories for a long time, but it’s become impossible to separate the two with the Trump administration.)
How To Send Us News & Get In Touch
B.J. can be reached by email at BJMendelson@Duck.com
You can anonymously send stories and news tips using Signal by sending them to 646-331-8341.
Unless you have a ProtonMail account, please only send us news and other information using Signal. This is to protect your safety and anonymity, as well as ours.
If you’re unfamiliar with Signal, here’s how to get it.
And if you’re unfamiliar with ProtonMail, here’s how to get that too.
Both are free.
Don’t Forget to Whitelist MonroeGazette@substack.com
Every email provider is different, but if you want to make sure you’re getting The Monroe Gazette delivered straight to your inbox, make sure to whitelist our email: MonroeGazette@Substack.com
Directions on how to Whitelist an email address can be found here.
Subscribe to The Podcast on Spotify & Apple Podcasts
I Like This New Monroe Gazette. How Can I Support It?
The Monroe Gazette is a free email newsletter. But …
We aim to find 100 monthly paid subscribers who want to support our work.
Does that sound like you?
If so, you can become a monthly paid subscriber for $10.
Please don’t buy the annual plan!
Substack doesn’t let us turn that off as an option, and the annual subscriptions mess with our books.
What Paid Subscribers Don’t Get:
-Refunds. All sales are final.
(One of the reasons we don’t offer refunds is to discourage people from buying the annual subscription plan.)
What Paid Subscribers Do Get:
Access to our archive, which goes behind a paywall after three months.
Ability to comment on our stories.
An Ad-Free Podcast to enjoy.
Access to our subscriber-only Facebook group. We often post news items here throughout the week that we don’t often have time to write up.* In the future we may add local event listings here.
Support local, independent journalism. Every dollar you contribute goes into operating costs associated with this project. This is a micro-business where nobody makes a profit. (Another reason we don’t offer refunds.)
Other subscriber benefits may follow, but that’s it for now.
*We reserve the right to reject someone from entering the Facebook group. Especially if there’s proof of them being a disruptive presence in other local Facebook groups. We’ve thankfully only had to do this twice, but it does happen.
One Last Thing …
A lot of people get their local news from Facebook and Facebook Groups like Monroe Matters and Families of Woodbury. We do not recommend these groups or others like them. Many are filled with bots and trolls, and often the group administrators have agendas. Or they actively suppress bad news about people they like. If you’re a Monroe or Woodbury resident, and you are looking for a free place to get news and information, we recommend you leave all other local groups and instead join …
Monroe residents: Preserve Monroe
Woodbury residents: Woodbury United
