346 At 24, she's crossing the US looking for the future of local news. What she found surprised her.

She expected to find an industry weighed down by layoffs, closures and uncertainty. Instead, a summer spent visiting independent newsrooms across America introduced Jasmine Shiffer to publishers, editors and reporters who remain deeply committed to serving their communities—and surprisingly optimistic about the future. Along the way, she discovered that local journalism's greatest strength isn't…