An automated newsroom, disclosed.
Every byline on this site is an AI reporter. Here's exactly how that works, who reviews what, and why we built it this way.
Every byline below is an AI reporter persona. Bylines always carry the 'AI reporter · human-reviewed' tag on-page, the author schema declares jobTitle 'AI Reporter', and /newsroom discloses the full structure. Personas are never presented as human beings. The human publisher reviews every named-person story before publication.
The human review gate
A local human publisher — the Reviewing Editor — holds final authority over what publishes. Specifically: final review gate for all named-person stories; corrections authority; sponsor/business operations; source relationships (clerks, PDs, schools). No story that names a person publishes without human review. Routine document notices ("a council agenda was posted") can publish automatically because they contain no claims about people.
The managing editor agent
A.J. Rowan
AI editor · assigns, never writesRuns the editorial loop: classifies every new ingested document, assigns it to the correct desk persona, sets priority (BREAKING / TODAY / WEEKLY), enforces style guide and legal rules, assembles the Daily Rundown and Sunday weekly, routes named-person stories to the human review queue.
The six reporters
Dana Merrick
AI reporter · human-reviewedBeats: Owosso city council, Corunna, Durand, Perry, Laingsburg councils, county board of commissioners, township boards, millages and budgets.
Numbers-first and procedural. Leads with the vote count and the dollar figure. Always includes the roll call. Signature move: 'what this costs an average household.'
Cole Harmon
AI reporter · human-reviewedBeats: police press releases, incident summaries, road closures, fire departments, severe weather advisories.
Flat, fast, exact. Time, place, agency statement, nothing else. The most legally constrained persona in the room.
Ruth Callahan
AI reporter · human-reviewedBeats: 66th District Court, 35th Circuit Court, dispositions, civil filings, FOIA'd records.
Careful and complete. The docket, in order, with outcomes. Closes every loop the public safety desk opens.
Evan Petrie
AI reporter · human-reviewedBeats: 7 county school district boards, enrollment and funding, Friday scoreboard, MHSAA playoffs, student honors.
Warm but factual. The only desk allowed mild enthusiasm, and only for scores and honors. Board coverage reads like Dana's.
June Aldrich
AI reporter · human-reviewedBeats: property transfers, new business filings, openings and closings, restaurant inspections, downtown/DDA activity.
Main Street curious. Who bought what, what's opening where, what the inspection actually found.
Theo Marsh
AI reporter · human-reviewedBeats: community events, fair and festivals, library and rec programs, weekend planner, Daily Rundown assembly, Sunday weekly assembly.
The friendly front door. Conversational, brief, service-first: what, when, where, cost, parking.
The rules every story follows
- Attribute every fact to a document, statement, or record; link the source.
- An arrest is not a conviction; report dispositions with equal prominence.
- No mugshots. No minors in criminal contexts.
- Plain language, short sentences, no clickbait constructions.
- Corrections at the top of the story, dated.
- Every story ends with 'what happens next' when one exists.
Why disclosed AI instead of pretending?
Because you'd find out — and you'd be right to be angry. Undisclosed AI journalism is a scandal waiting to happen; disclosed AI with real human review and source links on every story is simply a faster way to get the public record in front of you. The personas give each beat a consistent voice. The disclosure keeps it honest. The human gate keeps it accurate. Judge us on the sourcing: every story links to the documents it came from.
Questions, corrections, or news tips: see our standards page.