Kevin R. Kuhl

How I Follow Local News and Events

January 25, 2025

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One of the main reasons people use social media is to stay connected to the flow of information within their community.

I’ve been intentionally disentangling my digital life from Meta over the past several years. I’ve essentially stopped actively using Facebook and only use certain communication services because they’re preferred for group chats. Finishing this process has become more urgent for me given their recent overtly anti-LGBT policies.

This shift has made finding and keeping up with local news and events more of a choose-your-own-adventure. Here’s the solution I’ve found that works for me.

The basics

For news, I need a tool that presents stories chronologically. I do not want a recommendation algorithm. I want to preview titles and selectively read articles. Ideally, I can also save stories for later or potentially re-blog them. Publication feeds like Atom and RSS are perfect for this!

Unfortunately, I stopped using RSS readers when Google Reader shut down. Facebook and Twitter became my de facto replacements, but in hindsight, this resulted in a worse internet. So, I’ve been wanting to reclaim how I interact with online content.

After considering my needs and doing some research, I landed on Inoreader. The free tier meets most of my needs, but I’m debating moving to paid. Despite some limitations (e.g., the number of feeds, inability to adjust the feed check frequency), I appreciate its rule creation, filtering, and global search capabilities. These features prevent me from becoming overwhelmed by too many unchecked feeds.

Adding a feed is easy. I locate the RSS icon (an orange square with white curved lines) on the website whenever possible. If not, I open Inoreader, click the subscribe button, and search for the website’s main URL. Inoreader is usually good at finding the feed information.

Events are trickier. My primary interest is what’s happening in my local communities. Electronic calendars are great for this, and many organizations offer iCalendar (.ics) feeds. For cross-device and multi-user compatibility, I use Google Calendar. It’s not the most innovative choice, but it works well for me given the range of devices I use.

Adding another calendar feed to Google Calendar is simple. I find the iCal feed URL (usually labeled “iCal” or “Subscribe”), copy it, and then go to my Google Calendar. Under “Other calendars,” I can add the new feed. I will color coordinate events calendars, and can filter them in and out of my calendar when I’m curious about what’s going on.

Local news

Here’s the local news I follow:

  1. The Community Edition (Feed): An alt-weekly newspaper run by Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications, covering local events, culture, and providing a human perspective on the Waterloo Region.
  2. CBC News Kitchener Waterloo (Feed): CBC is Canada’s national broadcaster, a valuable part of our cultural and information ecosystem. This feed is filtered for regional news.
  3. CTV News Kitchener (Feed): A local news channel owned by Bell Media, providing regular regional news updates.

Beyond traditional media, I follow these newsletters and new media options:

  1. TL;WR (Feed): Alex Kinsella’s newsletter highlighting local events, music, and food. I’ve included it under news since it highlights the upcoming week, and doesn’t function as an event calendar.
  2. Citified (Feed): Melissa Bowman’s newsletter focusing on municipal politics and civic engagement in Kitchener-Waterloo. If you want to learn about how municipal politics works in KW and what’s going on at the municipal level, this is the feed to follow.

Finally, for breaking news and local discussions, I monitor these subreddit. Using an RSS reader is less distracting than the reddit interface, and I typically mark posts as read in bulk:

  1. Kitchener Subreddit (Feed)
  2. Waterloo Subreddit (Feed)

These local news websites lack RSS/Atom feeds, but I’d add them to Inoreader with a paid subscription:

  1. City News Kitchener: Rogers Media operates the City News brand, however they do not have an RSS feed.
  2. AM570: This is local news radio, also part of Rogers Media
  3. The Record: The Waterloo Region record is owned and operated by Torstar/Metroland. They offer email subscriptions, but their RSS feed has been defunct since June 2023.

Calendars and events

My event calendar subscriptions reflect my involvement in the tech and local queer communities:

  1. WatCamp: This is a feed of tech sector events in the Kitchener Waterloo region.
  2. Spectrum: The Rainbow Community Calendar from Spectrum, a queer community organization. (To get a feed, click the calendar’s menu icon, go to preferences, and select the iCalendar feed.)
  3. Waterloo Public Library: Libraries are a wonderful community resource, and have interesting programs and special events. (Their feed service includes filters set on the calendar.)
  4. The Princess CinemaFeed A local indie cinema in Waterloo.

I also regularly check these calendars (even without subscription options):

  1. Kitchener Public Library
  2. The Apollo Cinema
  3. KW Concerts

Final thoughts

This framework effectively connects me with local news and events. Importantly, it’s not algorithm-driven. I see published items chronologically and choose what to engage with. This is a more proactive and empowering approach compared to the algorithmic whims of social media. It requires more effort, but the control and awareness of my information intake are worthwhile.

Addendum

While writing this, I realized others have curated similar resources! If you have other feeds to suggest, let me know, and I’ll link to them:

  1. feeds.off-topic.kwlug.org The local Linux users group has a comprehensive list of calendars and news feeds. I will probably update my list based on this.
  2. WR Dashboard An aggregator project that lists multiple RSS feeds.