Bill Barker, who has served since April 2016 as a regional president for Gannett in Florida, as well as the president and publisher of the Naples Daily News and The News-Press in Fort Myers, is stepping down from those roles today. The two newspapers are part of Gannett's USA TODAY Network, which includes hundreds of media properties around the country. more

In an unprecedented partnership, nine newsrooms across Lee Enterprises and the USA TODAY Network in Iowa have joined forces to publish a collaborative project called “Iowa Mourns,” which identifies and tells the stories of Iowans who died from COVID-19. more

World-class, celebrity athletes will recognize high school student athletes across the country at 59 digitally streamed local events. more

A four-part series telling the story of how corporate cash corrupted one of the greenest states in America earned The Oregonian the first Collier Prize for State Government Accountability. The $25,000 award, offered by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is one of the largest journalism prizes in the nation. more

Michael McCarter has been named managing editor, standards, ethics and inclusion at USA TODAY. McCarter previously served as executive editor of USA TODAY Network’s Evansville (Indiana) Courier & Press, and also coordinated coverage with editors and reporters in Bloomington, Spencer, Martinsville, Paoli, French Lick and Bedford, Indiana, as well as Henderson and Union County, Kentucky. more

This ambitious project involving USA TODAY and Gannett’s 260 daily local news sites will give a coast-to-coast view of the country’s “new economic normal,” as told through the industries powering the national, regional and local economies. Stories are now running on Gannett-owned digital sites and will appear in print editions on May 31 with a nationwide narrative of what consumers, companies and taxpayers can expect as the American economy begins to accelerate again. more

Shane Fitzgerald, executive editor of the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and sub-regional editor for the former GateHouse Atlantic Region, will take on a broader role for the USA Today Network, serving as Gannett’s Pennsylvania editor. more

Mike Feeley, executive editor of The News Journal and Delaware Online, will take on a broader role for the USA Today Network, serving as Gannett’s South Jersey and Delmarva editor. more

“Just the FAQs LIVE: Conversations about Coronavirus” is hosted by Megan Finnerty, founder and director of the Storytellers Project and Storytellers Brand Studio at Gannett. The live episodes will run roughly 30 minutes and will include a round-robin report bringing together local Gannett journalists to share what is happening in their communities and an established thought leader or expert to share insights on COVID-19. more

A special section will run both in print and on digital platforms with up-to-date coronavirus content available to Gannett’s 261 local properties for at least two weeks. more

USA TODAY has expanded its fact-checking efforts in a new partnership with Facebook to identify misinformation more

When researchers at Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative searched for the key reasons readers decide to stay subscribers or add to churn statistics, they made some incongruous findings. Like the more pages someone reads, the more likely they are to churn. more

Data from the massive weekly survey will comprise more than 500,000 interviews leading up to the 2020 elections. more

USA TODAY NETWORK is calling for nominations of inspiring women from across America who will receive national recognition and coverage in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. USA TODAY NETWORK will leverage the combined power of its more than 260 newsrooms across the United States to explore this transformational constitutional change for women — what it has accomplished and what’s left to be done. more

USA TODAY’s product design team studied a year’s worth of engagement and search trends to optimize how content is arranged and displayed before rolling out the new design of USATODAY.com. Among the changes: a new bold, yellow label serves as a “virtual highlighter” to brightly distinguish opinion pieces from USA TODAY’s reporting. more