] Topix.net was founded in 2002 with the specific mission
] of providing users the ability to quickly and easily find
] targeted news on the Internet.

I'd been looking for something like this. A sort of "Google News" that I can use to only get articles that are relevant to my local geographical area.

Google News is great, but one of the problems with it is that I found I was becoming far more informed on global issues than local ones. For example, when I vote in local elections, my individual vote carries a lot more weight on local issues than national, and since I'm often oblivious to some of the local stuff, that's made it harder to vote wisely.

This way I can type in my zip code to Topix, and get a summary of *local* headlines. Nice. :)

Now I just need to find a blog / message board forum that I like, where I can communicate with my local peers about some of these issues. Hmmmm... Interesting challenge. First the internet connects us to a larger world, and now comes the challenge of being connected to the world, without losing sight of local nearby issues. Sort of like being able to be both farsighted and nearsighted, at the same time!