A news site, and starting January 2027 a free monthly paper, covering the good things that happen around Cass Lake, the Chippewa National Forest, and the towns between them. Seven of us: five writers, an editor, and a publisher. Independently owned, not part of a chain.

We cover fishing, food, music, events, new businesses, conservation, and the people here, including the ones just visiting. We don’t cover crime, court, politics, or scandal. Other outlets do that, and they should. Nobody was covering the rest.

No. If something hard happens here, you won’t read about it from us. You’ll read about the benefit dinner afterward: who showed up and how much they raised.

Statewide, and we get to Fargo, Grand Forks, Duluth, and the Twin Cities. But we specialize in lakes country and the Northwoods: Cass County and the edges of Beltrami, Hubbard, and Itasca, which means Cass Lake, Walker, Brainerd, Baxter, Bena, Pine River, Remer, Longville, Boy River, Federal Dam, and everything between. If you’re not sure whether you’re in it, you probably are. Ask.

Mostly. Every new story is free to read for its first six days, with no account and no article limit. The print edition is free. Obituaries, weather, community resources, and the events calendar are free to read, always.

A $10-a-year membership covers the rest: stories once they’re six days old, articles tagged Featured, back issues of the paper online, The Landing newsletter, and posting to the event calendar. Details.

On part of it, yes, and we would rather say so plainly than let you find out at the wrong moment. What we will not do is meter you, count your articles, or interrupt a story you already started reading. If something is members-only, you will know before you click it.

Advertising online and in print, sponsorships, paid articles that are clearly marked, and readers who become members. How it works.

No. For-profit LLC. Membership payments are appreciated but not tax-deductible.

Gregory Moyer. Nobody else has a stake, or an opinion we’re required to listen to.

We are. The first issue comes out Sunday, Jan. 3, 2027, and a new one comes out the first Sunday of every month after that. It’s free, and it changes its look with the season, so the January paper feels like January. Cold, but cheerful.

On the rack at grocery stores, cafés, bait shops, resorts, and gas stations in 23 counties, from Duluth to Grand Forks, Fargo, Brainerd, and St. Cloud. The full list of pickup spots goes up before the first issue. You can also read the current issue free online.

We hope so. It costs you nothing but a spot by the door or the register, and we bring a fresh bundle every month. Pick “Carry the paper in my store” on Reach the Newsroom.

Same writers, same standards, same rule about nice news. The paper is the best of the month, plus the calendar, obituaries, the fishing report, classifieds, and The Questionnaire. It’s built to sit on a kitchen table for a few weeks.

Often, if it arrives in time. Events and obituaries sent by the Monday before the first Sunday of the month can make that issue. Everything still runs online right away.

Print ads start at $51 an issue and online ads at $126 a month. We’ll design yours for $75, or you can send finished artwork. Order an ad here, and we’ll send a proof within two business days. Classifieds are $7.50 for 30 words a month, in the paper or on the website, billed separately. Use the same form and pick “Classified ad,” or browse this month’s classifieds.

Maybe. Tell us. This is the whole job and we can’t be everywhere. There’s a form on Reach the Newsroom and a sentence is plenty. We’d rather have too many of these than too few.

Submit it here. Free. Send it at least a week out with a time, a place, and a person we can call. For the paper, get it to us by the Monday before the first Sunday of the month.

Sometimes. We can’t get to everything and we don’t promise coverage in exchange for anything. If you need guaranteed coverage, that’s a Business Spotlight or an event package, and it’s marked Paid Content. Rates.

A photo with the fish and the person in the same frame, the lake, the date, and what it weighed. A witness helps. We’re not calling anybody a liar, but we do like a witness. Send it in.

Yes, and more easily than you’d think. You don’t need clips or a degree, just something to say about a town, a lake, a kitchen, or a Friday night. With a paper to fill every month, we could use you. Here’s what we’re looking for.

No. If it says Paid Content at the top, in a box, before the headline, a business paid for that article. If a section says Sponsored by, a business put its name on the section and we wrote the stories as usual. If it says neither, nobody paid. Same rule on the site and in the paper.

Because we tell you the rule: we only write up places we’d send a friend to. If we didn’t like it, we don’t publish anything. We’re not going to pan the café in a town of 400 people. Now you know how to read it.

No. Advertising buys ad space. A sponsorship buys a business’s name on a section. A Business Spotlight buys a paid article, marked Paid Content. None of them buys a spot in the regular run of the site or the paper. Our standards.

Tell us. Pick “A correction to a story” on Reach the Newsroom. We fix it online right away, say what changed, and date it at the bottom. If it ran in the paper, the correction runs in the next issue too. Even nice stories have facts in them.

Usually because nobody told us. Sometimes because we couldn’t get there. Occasionally because we’re working on it. Ask and we’ll tell you which.

The Landing. Friday mornings, about a two-minute read. It comes with a membership, $10 a year. Join.

Ten dollars a year gets you every story once it’s older than six days, Featured articles from the day they publish, back issues of the paper online, The Landing every Friday, the ability to post to the event calendar, and a writeup of your event in Community Calendar under your own name. One price, one level, one button. Details.

Two thousand dollars, once, for the first 50 people. It opens everything for three years, through 2029, puts your name on the supporters page, and includes a full-color print ad every year from 2027 through 2029, starting with the very first issue in January 2027. Everything else you advertise with us in those three years is half off. The money pays to put Minnesota Nice News on paper and into stores. The whole offer.

No. We’re a for-profit LLC. If you own a business, advertising does the same job for us and it is a deductible expense.

“Tell Us Something Good.” Weekly, about 20 minutes: 10 of local news, 10 of an interview with somebody worth hearing from. Video and audio.

Starting January 2027. Weekly, plus whatever else is happening: tournaments, concerts, grand openings, fairs. Announced ahead in the newsletter and on Facebook, and the replays stay up. Watch Live.

Please do. Use the form on Reach the Newsroom. Yourself counts.

Ask first. Pick “Permission to republish something” on Reach the Newsroom. The answer is usually yes for nonprofits, schools, and other small outlets, with credit and a link. Commercial republishing is a different conversation. Full policy.

Same answer, but ask about the photo specifically. Some are ours, some are licensed, some belong to whoever took them, and permission for a story is never automatically permission for the picture that ran with it.

Yes. Under 400 words, signed with your real name and the town you live in. We edit for length and libel, not for opinion. We don’t run anonymous letters or the same person every week. Send it through Reach the Newsroom.

Moderating them is a full-time job and we don’t have a spare person. Conversation happens on our Facebook page, where at least most people are using their real name.

Reach the Newsroom. Pick a subject or a name from the list. Someone answers. It may take a day.