This article is one in a series of articles about what life looks like in Butler County ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. Stories in this series aim to showcase what it’s like to live, work, play and serve in Butler County during this moment in history.

The Butler Eagle’s West Wayne Street office is bustling with activity around the clock, and when breaking news happens, reporters and photographers are on scene and online with pressing updates at all hours.

As Butler County’s local news outlet, the Butler Eagle publishes regular news updates to its website and six print editions per week to share relevant, timely information with county residents. Additionally, the Cranberry Eagle serves the southwestern part of the county with a weekly print edition and its website.

The outlet, which published its first edition March 2, 1870, has operated for much of America’s 250-year history. Ahead of this July 4, the Eagle’s management and others in the industry regionally spoke about the state of local news today.

Between its north, its center and its south, Butler County comprises about 200,000 people with vastly different lived experiences.

“I want to produce news that is relevant to every single one of them in some sort of way,” interim managing editor Tracy Leturgey said.

That requires a variety of coverage, as the interests of the county vary widely. The northern part of the county is rural, while the southwestern part is developing quickly, seeing increases in population consistently.

The news outlet employs about 85 to 90 people as reporters, editors, photographers, graphic designers, press operators, managers and front office staff.

The Butler Eagle’s newsroom is what publisher and general manager Tammy Schuey referred to as a ‘training newsroom,’ acting as a home for early career journalists to gain valuable experience before moving on to other professional opportunities.

“We've always had a few longtimers to kind of train (the young professionals) up,” Schuey said. “It's been really, really good to see those young journalists learn and thrive here at the Eagle. I take a lot of pride in that.”

The young staff is doing powerful work. It recently garnered significant industry recognition with 11 Golden Quill nominations recognizing excellence in journalism this past May. The Eagle came back with six awards, including one “best in show” award named after Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ray Sprigle.

“They are tough,” Leturgey said of the Eagle’s staff. “They go to fires. They see people sometimes at their worst moments in life. They were at the (Trump) assassination attempt. They ducked and fell to the ground, and then got back up and talked to people.”

One former Eagle photographer, Leturgey continued, didn’t even bother to duck. Morgan Phillips stood to capture the moment.

About 18 months ago, Leturgey and other Eagle management set out on a listening tour of Butler to make an intentional effort to talk with the community. They brought back pages of story ideas and thoughts.

One idea: A series called “Civics & Civility” that aims to explain government processes and elections while also presenting ways to engage civilly. In July of last year, the Eagle staff brought several judges of elections with varying political backgrounds to explain the election process.

Additionally, the Eagle strives to reach readers of all ages. The outlet puts out a weekly publication, Soar, written by and for school-age readers.

It also hosted its second Student Journalism Summit at Butler County Community College in March. More than 100 students were invited to a mock news conference on how to identify misinformation and on different types of journalism.

“As the students of today become the newsmakers, the storytellers or the information consumers of tomorrow, they will be better equipped to make those decisions of whether or not they want to support local news,” Chatham University assistant professor of communications Sara Bauknecht said of the importance of media literacy education.

In recent years, news organizations like the Butler Eagle have become significantly less profitable.

With the rise of the internet, many news outlets made information free and accessible online, which ultimately discouraged print subscribers.

Additionally, stores have begun to sell retail online and have trended away from advertising in local newspapers.

Local retail has “always been the bread and butter of a newspaper,” Schuey said. “Amazon is not spending any money on local advertising.”

As a result, the United States has seen mass closures of local newspapers, with nearly 3,500 newspapers and more than 270,000 newspaper jobs lost since 2005, according to the Poynter Institute.

So, how has the Butler Eagle sustained its operations?

When most other news outlets were publishing their content free on their websites in 2004, the Butler Eagle put up a paywall to build subscribers early on, Schuey said.

The Eagle also owns its own printing plant, so it does not need to outsource print products. Its billboard company provides supplemental income for the company.

Beyond the Eagle, there has been a larger shift in the region toward nonprofit journalism.

For example, Block Communications announced in January that Pittsburgh’s largest metropolitan newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — after a multiyear Newspaper Guild strike ended — would cease operation in May.

The outlet has since been bought by the Baltimore, Md.-based Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism and is operating as a nonprofit.

At times, the Eagle receives outside grant funding and donations to support its work. The Grable Foundation, for instance, has supported the Eagle’s efforts involved in the Student Journalism Summit.

Also, Leturgey and her team raised about $2,500 from the Butler community alone to support in-depth coverage on the EMS crisis.

“Our community recognizes, I think, the value that local news brings,” Schuey said. “We wouldn't be here without our readers, without our advertisers, without just general community support.”