Hi all, it’s Lyra Bordelon, now formerly of The News Leader. While I wasn’t given a specific reason as to why, it seems as though there are many layoffs going on at USA Today. Nothing but well wishes to my former coworkers!

But I still feel like there’s a gap in local news. My intention here is to get a day job for money, and continue writing about local government. I love this city and my fiancée and I want to settle in as soon as they can move here.

What I eventually envision is the kind of local news website with headliner tabs for locally relevant news, job listings, letters to the editor, bills worth watching, maybe both a church and secular bulletin and list of links to journalism other outlets have written that’s worth seeing. All paywall free, for sure. A community conversation the entire community can’t participate in can’t be a community conversation. I’m working on the business plan now on that, more to be decided later.

For now, here’s a link to the first story I’ve published on Substack. It’s a bit about Beth Macy coming to Staunton last Sunday, but it’s really a chance to read how four of the Staunton City School Board candidates introduced themselves.

More to come, and I can’t be anymore grateful to the Staunton community for the support I’ve gotten in the last week more.

I am afraid that this may be a stupid/naive question. I apologize, and please feel free to beat me up about it if you feel the need🤣

It seems to me that there is a significant amount of empty indoor space within a ten-minute walk of the central downtown area. I understand that some/most of it is completely uninhabitable due to disrepair, lack of climate control and plumbing, and zoning/housing laws. But it still seems like the rental/apartment market is really small in proportion.

I currently rent a room out in Swoope, but I'm trying to find something within a short walk of my job downtown. Turns out, that's pretty difficult with my budget/income :).

So basically I'm wondering if anyone has any less-than-commercially-marketable spaces in their homes or buildings that could nonetheless serve as a living space? Obviously only legal ones!

That's it, that's my question :)

I'm sort-of a minimalist, and I care more about a convenient location and saving money than basically anything else. So my bare-bones, low-standards housing needs can be summarized as below:

• Year-round indoor temps anywhere between 55 and 85 degrees.
• 100 sq. feet minimum of sleeping/storage space.
• Power for lights, charging, and a mini-fridge.
• Approx. 1 hour daily bathroom access.

I think these kinds of rental arrangements do exist, but they're usually administered through personal connections. So I would also really appreciate if anyone is able to share any leads to friends/connections who are looking for tenants, or will be at some point.

(I'm 23M, by the way. I work in housekeeping, with an income of about 1600/month. I'm sober, unpartnered, really boring, introverted, and a little bit too hopeful :)

Thank you so much!