Let the People Speak
Editorials: Dec 26, 2025
A group of Ohio lawmakers believes public bodies within the state should be required to allow public comment before decisions are made. It may come as a surprise to you that is not already the case, but state law requires only that the public be allowed to attend and/or listen to meetings.
House Bill 609 would address that barrier to civic engagement with a revision “to require a public body to allow for public commentary and testimony before taking formal action on any item.”
State Reps. David Thomas, R-Jefferson, and Meredith Craig, R-Smithville, are leading the bipartisan effort, which would also prohibit those public bodies from requiring people to get approval or register before the start of the meeting to speak. It also would stop public bodies from holding special meetings without 24 hours notice.
Of course, the age of social media keyboard warriors and those who revel in nastiness for its own sake — wishing to badger and belittle rather than actually be part of creating the change they say they seek — has made elected officials wary of letting the public interact with them during meetings.
That is understandable, but cannot be used as an excuse to keep the public from being able to weigh in on matters that affect them, their families and their communities. In fact, one would think elected officials would feel a bit nervous about passing laws or changing rules WITHOUT input from the public they serve.
Elected officials serve their constituents. Their job is to work on behalf of the rest of us. Legislators must waste no time ensuring public bodies are not able to stay in their own echo chambers to make decisions without input from the people who will be affected.
https://www.theintelligencer.net/opinion/editorials/2025/12/let-the-people-speak/
If you have a public notice story
or a bill that may be of interest.
Please send information to
Jim Tarrant at admin@pnrc.net
Jeff Schrag sells longtime legal newspaper to publisher of Springfield Business Journal
Schrag said he has been pretty hands off in the day-to-day operations of The Daily Events, and now seemed like the right time to sell
by Jack McGee
December 17, 2025
Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag is selling The Daily Events, a legal newspaper established in 1881, to Marty and Shallina Goodnight, Schrag confirmed Wednesday to the Springfield Daily Citizen.
Marty is the publisher and soon-to-be owner of the Springfield Business Journal.
The Goodnights will assume ownership on Jan. 1, 2026. Schrag purchased The Daily Events, his first Springfield business, in 1995. With a bachelor’s degree in journalism and social sciences from Kansas State University, Schrag previously owned newspapers in Jackson County, Missouri and Minnesota, according to past Daily Citizen reporting.
“At some point, like a switch flips, and you say, ‘Yeah, I’m ready,’” Schrag said about selling the business. “You don’t want to wait until you’re forced, you don’t want to wait too long. So, yeah, it just felt right. When Marty and I got together and started talking, it just felt right.”
After Schrag was elected mayor in April 2025, the city of Springfield stopped using The Daily Events to advertise legal notices in order to avoid a conflict of interest, according to Springfield Business Journal reporting. The city has since begun advertising legal notices with the Daily Citizen and the Springfield News-Leader, depending on whether the notice is governed by state law or local ordinances.
While losing the city’s business was a hit to The Daily Events, Schrag said it wasn’t enough to “cause bankruptcy,” and emphasized that it was not the reason he decided to sell the business.
https://sgfcitizen.org/economy-growth/business/jeff-schrag-sells-longtime-legal-newspaper-to-publisher-of-springfield-business-journal/
Note:
Jeff Schrag is a long time supporter of maintaining public notice in newspapers. He is a PNRC Board member and provides financial funding for the work of PNRC.
“It never hurts to remind readers of the importance of public notices in your newspaper ” – Editor.
Broward County News
Community Newspapers Expands Legal Notice Publishing in Broward County
By Community News Releases December 29, 2025
Community Newspapers Expands Legal Notice Publishing in Broward County. For more than 60 years, Community Newspapers has been committed to one simple idea: keeping the public informed. From city halls to courthouses, legal notices play a critical role in transparency, accountability, and civic engagement — and that mission continues to grow.
Community Newspapers publishes legal notices in its countywide newspapers, on its website, and through FloridaPublicNotices.com, ensuring broad access, proper archiving, and compliance with Florida law.
• Legal Advertising at a Glance
• Published in countywide newspapers
• Available online at CommunityNewspapers.com
• Archived on FloridaPublicNotices.com
• Meets Florida statutory requirements
Local support from an experienced legal advertising team . As part of that ongoing commitment, Community Newspapers has expanded its legal advertising services in Broward County, providing attorneys, municipalities, businesses, and residents with another trusted and compliant option for publishing public notices. This expansion builds on the organization’s long-standing role as the newspaper of record in Miami-Dade County and reflects continued demand for clear, accessible legal advertising across South Florida.
“Legal notices are not just a requirement — they’re a public service,” said Grant Miller, Publisher of Community Newspapers. “People deserve to know what’s happening in their community, whether it involves zoning changes, court proceedings, or government actions. Expanding our presence in Broward County allows us to serve that purpose even more effectively.
” Community Newspapers publishes notices across multiple platforms to ensure visibility and ease of access, with a continued focus on accuracy, clarity, and meeting all statutory requirements. The process is designed to be straightforward for those placing notices and easy for the public to find.
“At the end of the day, legal advertising should be clear and accessible,” said Michael Miller, Editor of Community Newspapers. “Our responsibility is to publish notices correctly, on time, and in a place where the public can actually find them. As we continue to grow in Broward County, that commitment remains the same.
” Community Newspapers works directly with attorneys, municipalities, developers, HOAs, and businesses that are required to publish public notices under Florida law, guiding them through the legal notice process from start to finish and helping ensure notices are published correctly the first time.
Representative Novak Applauded for Work to Protect Public Information
On Tuesday, December 9, Governor Tony Evers signed Senate Bill 440 relating to the how government and court notices that appear in newspapers are published. The change, championed by Representative Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville) ensures the continued integrity and print quality of important government information known as legal notices.
An important premise upon which the principle of democracy is based is that information about government activities must be accessible for people to make informed decisions. For more than two hundred years, newspapers have served as the critically important independent third-party oversight between units of government and the public via the publication of legal notices. The publication of legal notices in newspapers creates a record verifying that government officially informed the public about actions that may affect their rights, such as zoning changes, tax sales, public hearings, or new regulations.
The legislation authored by Representative Novak allows newspapers to address the changes in technology used in the production and printing of vitally important public information. The Wisconsin Newspaper Association on behalf of this newspaper and the Wisconsin newspaper industry applaud Representative Novak for his work to support the continued newspaper publication of legal notices that allow citizens and journalists to remain informed and to monitor the actions of our government.
Beth Bennett
Executive Director
Wisconsin Newspaper Association
New Jersey
NJ A693 – Requires public utilities to provide customers notice of request for increase in rates; revises requirements related to hearings on proposed rate increases.
This bill requires that electric, gas, water, and sewer public utilities regulated by the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) that have petitioned the BPU for an increase in rates, shall provide notice to individual customers of any hearing or proceeding to be held concerning such a request. Such notice must be provided reasonably in advance of the hearing or proceeding, as determined by board rules or regulations, and shall be conspicuously set forth in writing in or with the bills for service sent by the public utility, or other written notice, to each of its customers and publicized in the public notice section of a newspaper having substantial readership, printed, and published within each county in which the public utility provides service.
The bill amends the law concerning public hearings conducted in relation to proposed rate increases by any public utility to provide that such hearings shall be held in the municipality with the largest population that may be affected by the increase. If the increase would affect municipalities in more than one county, the hearings would be held in the municipality with the largest population in each affected county. In addition, the bill directs the BPU to receive and address public questions and comments concerning the proposed rate increase submitted during the public hearing.
New Hampshire
HB1369 – Relative to the manner of posting the warrant for a special town meeting.
This bill modifies New Hampshire state law (specifically RSA 39:4) regarding how town officials must notify residents about special town meetings. Currently, when selectmen call a special town meeting, they are required to publish the meeting warrant in a newspaper of general circulation within one week of posting the warrant. The bill adds an alternative method, allowing the warrant to be posted on the town’s official website instead of being published in a newspaper.
This change provides towns with more flexibility in how they communicate meeting information, potentially reducing publication costs and leveraging digital communication channels. The bill will take effect 60 days after its passage, giving towns time to prepare for and implement the new notification method.