Staci Baird

It's hard to say goodbye La Conner Community News Managing Editor leaves her role

When I joined Kari Mar to start a new newspaper back in January, it was supposed to be part-time. Within weeks, the work — and the joy of it — grew into full-time hours because the community’s stories deserve that kind of attention. I don’t regret a minute; it was hard to say goodbye.

@apnews.com any thoughts on date style for social media posts?

Feeling like the whole day of the week thing might not be best for platforms where users could be reading something in a feed days, weeks or months after it was posted. 🤔

School started Wednesday or
School started Sept. 3?

The Hard Truths About AI Every Newsroom Leader Can’t Ignore: In Conversation with Fabian Heckenberg, Naja Nielsen and Gard Steiro We in journalism often find solace in the phrase “human-in-the-loop,” believing it is our ultimate safeguard against the unpredictable tides of artificial intelligence.

"What if that comfort has become our greatest strategic vulnerability?"

This. ⬆️

www.newsroomrobots.com/p/the-hard-t...

Actual footage of me trying to survive the SoCal heat at Disneyland. 🥵

Nathan Baugh on Substack The creators of South Park on what makes a great story. One of my go-to videos for when I get stuck writing:

substack.com/@nathanbaugh...

Opinion: Who feels safe anymore? Not me. In a time when visibility can feel dangerous, presence takes on a whole new meaning.

These are the times we are living and working in folks.

My business partner, Editor & Publisher Kar Mar writes:

"In a time when visibility can feel dangerous, presence takes on a whole new meaning."

laconnercommunitynews.org/2025/06/25/o...

Front page of the June 19, 2025 edition of La Conner Community News. The lead story headline reads, “Sun-kissed and shortcake-ready: Skagit strawberries take center stage,” accompanied by a photo of ripe strawberries in baskets labeled “Fresh Berries.” Other headlines include “Cyberattack on food supplier disrupts local deliveries” and “Emergency moratorium tabled on battery system storage.” The sidebar highlights local events such as Berry Dairy Days, La Conner Pride Art Walk, and Skagit Garden & Art Fair.

🍓 Fresh off the press!

This week’s La Conner Community News is bursting with berry goodness. 🗞️

The courage to stand up and the duty to bear witness Why Saturday’s “No Kings” marches matter for every reporter, reader, and citizen.

"It felt like if you stepped outside anywhere in Skagit County on Saturday, you were bound to run into people exercising one of our most precious — and most contested — liberties: the rights enshrined in the First Amendment."

substack.com/home/post/p-...

Hi there! Thank you for the kind words. We launched a "What's growing now" series in our print newspaper this spring. Reminds me, we're probably do for an update on what's happening in the local fields. :-)

La Conner Community News newspaper front page. Top headline: Big smiles, bright futures, bold beginnings.

La Conner Community News newspaper front page. Top headline: Aurora bores no one over La Conner's Rainbow Bridge

La Conner Community News newspaper front page. Top headline: Living tribute: 50 elms honor WWI heroes along Memorial Highway

La Conner Community News newspaper front page. Top headline: Swinomish link past, present, and future in annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony

Some of our recent front pages, so proud of our team. Newspapers FTW! 🗞️

@seattletimes-rss.bsky.social Small town, loud voices.

This little town made a big statement today.

More than 220 people gathered in La Conner, Washington's Gilkey Square at noon to participate in the “No Kings” day protest.

📷 Nancy K. Crowell/La Conner Community

One week at a community newspaper: Lessons in teamwork, tetris, and transparency Some weeks at our little community newspaper feel like a marathon.

Lord. Last week was a week.

But It’s in these moments—the late-night software failures, the layout marathons, the last-minute fixes—that you find out what you’re made of.

open.substack.com/pub/startthe...

The Tulip Festival/Daffodil/Pet Parade in La Conner was a lot of fun on Saturday! 🌷 La Conner Community News walked in the parade and handed out newspapers. 📰

New La Conner paper emerges after long-time weekly shuttered A new La Conner newspaper launched in March, following the closing of one of the state's oldest weeklies

"The La Conner Community News’ all-female leadership stands out in an industry where leadership is still male-dominated despite more and more women joining the ranks of journalists." 💪💪💪

Corrections from our 3/20 issue that haunted me until the 3/27 issue:

Famous author's wife's first name cut off in a photo caption.

Photo credit that did not credit our rockstar photographer.

Corrections from the 3/27 issue that haunted me until the 4/1 issue:

HED on P1 had pieces of last week's HED it in.

Corrections from our 4/1 issue that will haunt me this week:

Lightening not lightning

😱

Building a Community Newspaper Together When we set out to start our own community newspaper, we knew one thing for sure: it had to be for and with the community.

In the early days, I kept asking, “What if we publish this newspaper and people don’t want it?” 🗞️

But now, just a couple of issues in, I’m thrilled to say the community has shown up. *Community* news is truly something special! 🫶🏻

startthepresses.substack.com/p/building-a...

A new newspaper blooms in La Conner In a remarkable turnaround, a Skagit Valley town that lost its local newspaper in December received its first copies of a new paper last week.

The Seattle Times wrote about our new nonprofit newspaper La Conner Community News! It's a labor of love and a leap of faith in the future of community news.

I'm so lucky to be part of a community that believes in the power of local news. 🌷🗞️

www.seattletimes.com/opinion/a-ne...

Community rallies to save small town newspaper The Skagit County town of La Conner bucks a national trend when it comes to local journalism.

Our newspaper made it on TV! 🤩
@king5news.com.web.brid.gy

www.king5.com/article/news...

🗞️ The first print issue of La Conner Community News dropped yesterday! 🎉

I couldn't be more excited, humbled and exhausted by this experience.

"Please act now to take this one reasonable step to support the local free press. It's not one of the branches of government but a democracy will not survive without it."

- Washington resident Carolyn Boatsman, said in support of SB 5400, which would create a state grant to support journalism jobs.

The Last Mile: What It Takes to Launch a Newspaper In theory, we knew what it would take to get La Conner Community News to print.

Crazy how fast we went from, "La Conner needs its newspaper" to printing our first edition. 🗞️ As our editor and publisher wrote, "...nothing quite prepares you for the last mile before launching a print newspaper."

Startup newspapers are not for the faint of heart! 🥴

News Literacy District Fellowship program NLP News Literacy District Fellowships reimagine district-wide news and media literacy learning, empowering students to think critically about information and preparing them to be active participants ...

📢 Educators: Apply now for our District Fellowship!

ℹ️ As part of the 3-year program, design & implement innovative district-wide action plans for integrating news & media literacy!

🔗 Learn more / spread the word: newslit.org/district-fel...

#EduSky
#TLsky

One Week to Launch: Lessons From the Road (or the Bicycle We’re Still Building) We’re one week away from launching our print edition of La Conner Community News. It’s a huge milestone, and we’re excited. But we also need to be honest: we’ve made some mistakes along the way.

We’re just one week away from launching our print edition of La Conner Community News! 🗞️ 🎉

Our Editor & Publisher Kari Mar is sharing some of the lessons we've learned along the way.

I've done more reporting and writing these past two months than I have since, well, a while. 🥵

Kari M. on LinkedIn: #localjournalism #communityimpact #csr #education #laconner… 🚀 Support Local Journalism & Education in La Conner! 📢 At La Conner Community News, we believe that a strong, informed community starts with access to…

Educating the next generation of journalists is so important.

La Conner Community News aims to provide PAID internships for budding journalists and to provide free newspapers to local schools. We're looking for supporters for these programs, please help us spread the word!

Edison’s chicken parade ruffles feathers and delights crowds Feathers flew and spirits soared at Edison’s annual Chicken Parade, where costumed revelers clucked and strutted through town in a celebration of all things fowl.

The lull in rain this morning meant a decent-size crowd turned out for the annual Chicken Parade in Edison, Washington!

🐔🎉

Awesome! Be sure to look sign up for the La Conner Community News email newsletter, we're launching our print newspaper in March.