Giving Tuesday isn’t for Delaware Currents anymore

I didn’t crowd the scene on Giving Tuesday because I’m no longer banging the drum to raise money for Delaware Currents. 

(Remember I’m closing up shop on Dec. 31, so if you’ve been kind enough to support Delaware Currents in the past, please remember to stop any automatic payments.)

But here are some places that would be a perfect fit for your hard-earned dollars.

These are news sites that need our support. If you cannot donate your money, maybe visit from time to time and get to know one or more of them.

I’d like to celebrate two local news sites that cover the upper river really well. One is WJFF Radio Catskill 90.5 FM — online at wjffradio.org

WJFF has a special place in my heart because it’s a public radio station and we know how hard-hit that system has been in recent weeks.

The other news site that I’m proud to have shared some of my stories (and I’ve shared some of theirs) is The River Reporter, which is celebrating its 50th birthday, which is quite an achievement in these tumultuous times!

Those of you who live above Port Jervis, N.Y., likely know these outlets. Those of you below the famous Montague gauge (gage) (it’s actually in Milford, Pa.) — read more about that here — should get to know them.

They will tell you how the ongoing saga of the repairs to the Delaware Aqueduct are going — stalled now but it will surely crop up again. More about that here.

And news for all of us about the flow in the river, known as the Flexible Flow Management Plan, is coming up for renewed debate. 

It sounds unromantic but it’s important for everyone downriver of the New York City reservoirs. Read more about it here in one of our Special Reports collection of stories. 

And if you’re really interested, the Delaware River Basin Commission (not a journalism site but well worth a visit to its voluminous website) hosts the conversation among the interested parties: New York City (the reservoir folks), and the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. 

In fact, the Regulated Flow Advisory Committee is having a Zoom meeting on Dec. 15. Check out the details here. 

For more watershed-wide news, we have three “Spotlight” online news organizations. Though they are not related, they have similar goals. They don’t specialize in environmental news but do occasionally run environmental stories.

One that I’ve partnered with is New Jersey Spotlight News. Recent cuts to its sponsoring organization, The WNET Group, means it has a bumpy financial road ahead.

Another Spotlight group is in Delaware, Spotlight Delaware, which is developing a network of Delaware newsrooms. (As you know, I love news cooperatives!)

And in Pennsylvania, Spotlight PA, which started as a Harrisburg-focused news site, now has a State College Bureau and a Berks County Bureau, (which is in the Delaware River watershed, and might in the future do stories about the Schuylkill River, I hope?)

Two news organizations are well known to my readers and also deserving of your support: WHYY and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

WHYY is the leading public media outlet in the Philadelphia region, reaching Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Despite the difficult times for news outlets, it has a climate desk. WOW! 

And the other is the well-respected Philadelphia Inquirer, which reaches about the same territory.

Each of these don’t usually take in the full breadth of the watershed, so you might need to piece together news outlets to give you a more complete picture of what’s happening in the basin.

All of these sites will earn your respect and deserve your support.

Thanks for reading,

Meg