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The Wheels on the Bus Go Round

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By Joslyn King, Asmaa Mohamed, Mohamed Omer, Max Rosenthal, Alona Sanchez, and Therese Agbetiafa with the staff of the Princeton Summer Journal

Take a walk around Princeton with David Keddie, founder of ‘Walkable Princeton,’ a group dedicated to raising awareness of infrastructure issues, and he might tell you about his experience helping an international student get to and from campus.

“I would drive her to the train station and drive home,” said Keddie. He goes on to explain that she didn’t drive, and there was no accessible transit infrastructure in the area leading to the train. Without Keddie to give her car rides, the only other option would be to walk a long distance every day to and from the train. 

This problem is profound for low-income riders, who tend to take more transit trips than their higher-income counterparts. For those people, the bus is a critical part of their lives, but bus systems don’t always meet their needs. 

A Princeton Summer Journal investigation into bus systems nationwide compared commute time to several common locations via bus and car. On average, buses in lower-income areas took 15 minutes to travel one mile while wealthier areas traveled at 13 minutes per mile, showing a disparity between a community’s income and bus performance. 

The investigation surveyed the distance from 20 high school students’ homes to their local high school, public library, and grocery store. Students’ high schools were the least accessible by bus—half the bus commutes were at least 30 minutes longer than car commutes. Only four library routes took students at least 30 minutes longer than if they were to drive. Notably, none of the grocery store trips took students at least 30 minutes longer via bus than car. One possible explanation for this is high schools surveyed were farther on average from students’ homes than libraries and grocery stores on average.  

Students found that buses were often delayed. In particular, arrival times on Google Maps did not match the actual time buses arrived at the students’ stops. Traffic delays also increased commute times in addition to routine bus delays, even when there were dedicated bus lanes. 

Additionally, bus stop accessibility varied. The survey found that around half the bus stops had a bench, and stops without benches typically also lacked a bus shelter. The buses themselves, however, tended to be well equipped; they largely had clean, undamaged seats and working air conditioners. 

Ultimately, this investigation demonstrates the complexities of America’s public transit system.  Infrastructure, lack of attention from politicians and transit officials, and stigma create a fractured set of options for bus riders. Despite these limits, public transit remains a critical tool to enable people, especially low-income people, to participate in their community. 

The issues with public bus systems stem from what transit consultant Jarrett Walker describes as “landscapes that are geometrically hostile to good public transit.” 

In small towns, there may not be enough concentrated groups of people or sidewalks to justify having very many bus stops. In cities, it can be the case that there is too much congestion and not enough space on a road for a driver to safely stop when letting people on or off. 

The journal investigation shows significant differences in travel speed between cars and buses in cities, suburbs, and towns. All three geographic locales saw their greatest difference when commuting to high schools, which were the farthest to travel on average at 5 miles away.

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, with the intention of overcoming transportation congestion and boosting the economy by promoting quicker transport of goods, it also created an environment that encouraged the use of cars as a main form of transportation. As Walker explained, “Those highways are always going to be accessible from neighborhoods to get them to the center of town, but of course you need to have  a car and be car reliant.”

In his work, Walker observed a “low level of understanding among elected decision makers who are actually telling the staff what to do.”​​​​ Without centering the needs of riders and staff, bus systems risk creating inefficiencies. 

Princeton tackled this issue head-on in 2025. “For years we’ve had the Muni bus [municipal free bus] that was old and kept breaking down. So [the Muni bus] was really not something that could help the commercial districts so much,” said Michelle Pirone Lambros, Princeton Council President. 

Lambros believed that improved buses and additional distance coverage would benefit residents in the Princeton area. She relied on a community survey of bus riders to inform improvements to the transit system. 

“People will say to me, ‘I don’t shop downtown because I can’t find parking space,’” Lambros continued, “It was really more about getting people around that didn’t have transportation, that had accessibility issues, seniors and the other larger piece is young people, who live in multifamily housing that have come recently into our community that need to get around, that may be commuting.”

After conducting the transit survey, and with the assistance of Nelson Nygaard, Lambros helped re-launch the Princeton Loop, an expansion of the city’s fare‑free municipal bus system to include more stops and faster service with an express line.

Fare discounts are another way transit systems try to better serve their communities. Every transit system surveyed except one offered a fare discount of some kind. These discounts help encourage more people to ride the bus. 

Low-income people, individuals with disabilities, seniors, and high school students have the most discount opportunities in the bus systems surveyed. Student fares in particular are more likely to have larger discounts than low-income fares. This unlocks easier access to education. 

Looking forward, Walker suggests cities look to Canada for examples of how to improve transit systems: “We’re doing a wonderful natural experiment in North America, which is that we have two different countries with different political systems in basically the same landscape, with basically the same history of urban development, basically the same age.” 

The Toronto Transit Committee, for example, maintains fifty-two routes that operate every 10 minutes or better. This helps ensure that frequent and reliable service is available across the city. 

Jonathan English, an urban planner based in Toronto, said in a Vox interview, “Even car owners in Toronto ride the bus. That shows that it is possible that if we invest in basic operations and improving basic local service, that the riders will come”. 

When a more diverse group of people use public transportation, it stimulates a culture that cares about the accessibility and comfort of public transportation. 

According to the Manhattan Institute, an independent, nonpartisan public policy research organization, “people will take buses and trains only if they feel safe while riding them. Mass transit in the United States lacks mass appeal”. 

Even if the infrastructure issues were solved, buses have another problem to overcome: stigma. 

“When you are driving your comfortable car down the road, and you see a woman standing in the rain at a bus stop with no bench with two bags of groceries. What do you think you’re seeing?” asked Walker.

“Most people think they’re seeing a loser or a failure. Someone that they can look down on. And to me, as a transit planner, what I’m seeing is a pioneer.”

Our Methods   

Both fare price and fare types available per bus system came from the 2025 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) database, and when needed where verified with the transit system’s official website. 

To determine which mode of transportation was faster to arrive at a given location, travel times shown on Google Maps for each route were compared. A difference of 30 minutes between the bus and driving routes was defined as one mode of transportation taking substantially longer.  

While there was data for 20 bus systems in total, charts only visualized routes where it was possible to take the bus; any car-only routes were dropped.

City, suburb, and town designations were determined by the NCES Locale Lookup. The poverty rate in each location was recorded from Census data and categorized into a low-income area if the rate was above 10.6% —the national poverty rate— and a high-income area if below that threshold.

The DSA Has Their Foot in the Door. Can They Take 2028?

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By Madelynn Martinez

For most of American history, change was gradual, occurring over generations.

Now there’s new kids on the block, and they’re looking to progress (pun intended) at a break-neck pace. 

The name alone would have made Ronald Reagan quiver: the Democratic Socialists of America. The DSA is among the oldest progressive organizations in the United States. Presently, it has two de facto leaders: Zohran Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Mamdani’s success in the New York City mayoral election and AOC’s near-decade long tenure in Congress have generated mass speculation that the DSA may thrust its party members into the 2028 election. Mamdani is not eligible to run for president, but AOC is, and she has begun to hint at a potential run.

However, AOC’s track record is concerning at best. The Congresswoman from New York began her tenure in the House with a bang, attempting to pass the ambitious Green New Deal. At the time, AOC was the ideal progressive candidate, until her bill was shot down in the Senate in a landslide defeat of 0-57. 

As time went on, she shifted to the center. In recent years, AOC has pushed for “building bridges” and working within the current political climate; in 2023, she voted in lock-step with the centrist Democratic President Joe Biden 94 percent of the time. 

If AOC 1.0 was an expansive wind farm, AOC 2.0 is a natural gas plant with a pride flag painted over. 

When the Green New Deal failed, it became clear to AOC that establishment Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer would not support her progressive policies, thus leaving her socialist agenda dead in the water. 

With the death of her socialist policies and capitulation to the status quo, AOC’s presidential nomination would fail to stick out in comparison to her establishment counterparts. If she were to become president, her term could be akin to those of Presidents Biden and Obama before her.

This leaves the DSA in a predicament: Run a bridge candidate and lose out on key policy goals, or don’t run at all and let the status quo continue.

Miss the “Miss”: Patriarchy in Linguistics

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By Sacdiya Rashid

In my 17 years of living, one especially important lesson I’ve learned is that patriarchy is inherently entwined in how we speak. 

My first encounter with patriarchal ideas began on the first day of fourth grade. It’s an understatement to say I walked in ecstatic. Orientation has always been my favorite day. 

English is my second language; Somali was my first. So when chatter in the class slowly settled down, and my teacher introduced herself as Miss, I was confused. Miss? I thought it was Mrs.? Or Ms.? 

To answer both your question and mine, the difference between the three is marital status. Mrs. is a married woman; Ms. is generally an unmarried woman. Well, that’s the end. Thanks for reading… is what I would say if the distinction didn’t linger in my nine-year-old brain, creating a fixation none of my peers shared.

Lo and behold, the origins of this terminology derive from historical language. According to the University of Cambridge, “‘Mistress’ is the root word of both of the abbreviations ‘Mrs.’ and ‘Miss,’ just as ‘Mr.’ is an abbreviation of ‘Master.’”

Even before understanding the historical significance behind the terminology, I always wondered why women were identified based on their relationship status while men weren’t. Only women’s titles emphasize their connections to men rather than their honorific and name, which takes away the purpose.

Few people deny that patriarchal ideas exist in our language, but many critics argue that it’s too late for anyone to do anything about it. A common claim among many English speakers essentially boils down to “Okay, now what?” My answer is that it’s never too late to inspire change. The first step is clear: raising awareness.

If I hadn’t learned about the difference between honorifics in men and women on that day in fourth grade, I wouldn’t have even acknowledged the impact linguistics play in our lives. Awareness can be the difference between being negligent and making a difference. You can make an impact, one word at a time. It takes a single candle to light thousands. Be that candle.

ICE: Enemy of the People

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By Jorge Rodriguez

There are many qualities that make up the ideal President: empathetic, knowledgeable and considerate of everyone in the country.

None of these qualities are ones that our current President, Donald Trump, embodies. He is routinely dishonest and consistently demeans and marginalizes communities of color, specifically immigrants. This is most evident in his immigration policies and the deployment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has issued more than 500 immigration-policy related actions. In his second term, ICE arrests have more than quadrupled, reaching roughly 1,200 a day, according to the Migration Policy Institute. 

It doesn’t just stop at arrests. Across the nation, cases of ICE abuse have surged. According to the National Immigration Project, at least 23 people have died in ICE custody this year alone.

In January, 42-year-old Honduran immigrant Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres died under ICE supervision in Texas. Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old resident of Minneapolis, was fatally shot by ICE officers the same month. Despite these atrocities, we see that ICE officers rarely face consequences for their actions. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in its most recent form, was established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The agency was created to boost national security and enhance border enforcement after the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, and to assist in the removal of unauthorized people living in the United States.

In its first 20 years of activity, ICE served four presidents and kept a relatively low profile. Everything changed when Trump came back to office. ICE was no longer seen as an agency that protects us against terrorists. It became the parasite that kills us.

Raids became more frequent, detention centers have expanded and agents are now being  directed to prioritize arrests in communities with high immigrant populations.

Americans should be asking themselves: What happens when the protector becomes the enemy?

It’s Time for an Immigration Bill

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By Daniela Rosales 

The Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas has 65,000 seats. That’s almost enough space for the 65,765 individuals reported to be held in United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers as of July 2026. Almost, but not enough. 

The numbers keep growing, but Congress hasn’t passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill since 1986. The DIGNITY Act of 2025 (H.R. 4393) could change this. Introduced by United States Representatives Maria Elvira Salaazar (R-FL) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX), the bill would provide undocumented immigrants with dignity in the form of long-term legal status, protection from deportation and the ability to work and travel outside the U.S. It must be passed. 

In the 40 years since the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was signed into law, numerous election campaigns have promised the American people a solution. In an interview with PBS news, former President Joe Biden stated: “Within 100 days, I’m going to send to the United States Congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people.” Likewise, former President Barack Obama said during his tenure that he was “confident” that immigration reform would pass.  

These promises have proved empty, leaving communities torn apart and America’s immigrants living in fear for their future in the country they call home. With bipartisan Congressional support from 19 Republicans and 20 Democrats, the DIGNITY Act offers a chance to ease that fear. It is clear that this is an issue that elected officials are willing to work across the aisle for.

Some say that the bill would be ineffective because it doesn’t tackle citizenship, but that doesn’t mean that the compromise it offers can’t move things in the right direction. The bill would allow undocumented Americans to stop hiding in fear and live their lives. It would pay respect to a group of people who have contributed trillions of dollars in tax revenue to the U.S. economy and have taken far less in welfare. 

Immigrants are the backbone of the United States of America. By passing legislation like the DIGNITY Act, we can actually make America great.

Portfolio-Based Assessments Outscore the SAT

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By Kaitlyn Hills

What’s the newest extracurricular taking up teenagers’ time? Studying for the SAT. As college admissions offices reinstitute testing requirements, the controversy over whether a single score is an accurate assessment of a student’s intelligence continues. 

One factor that calls into question the SAT’s quality as an evaluatory metric is the disparity in performance between students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. According to the Harvard Gazette, only 25 percent of students from the lowest-earning 20 percent of families take the SAT. Among those students, just 2.5 percent score a 1300 or higher. Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that test takers from families in the top 20 percent of earners were seven times more likely as students in the bottom quintile to score a 1300 or above.

A reason for the underperformance of students from lower-income backgrounds is a lack of access to resources. According to CollegeBoard, high-performing SAT scores strongly correlate with access to resources. Lower-income students often struggle to find resources to aid in test prep, whether in the form of classes, paid tutors or prep books. 

Given these barriers, schools need to adopt an alternative method for measuring students’ college readiness. Portfolio-based assessments, in which a student’s knowledge is evaluated based on samples of work collected over time, offer exactly that. 

This idea is not abstract. The rapid implementation of test-optional college admissions policies during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that an application process without standardized testing is possible. According to a Common App report, the adoption of such a policy has increased the number of applications from first-generation students and underserved communities by over 20 percent. 

Portfolio-based assessments demonstrate students’ critical thinking skills and holistic academic progress in a way that standardized test scores cannot. If colleges and universities are willing to work alongside legislators at the national level, they can implement comprehensive instructions and guidelines to standardize the process. 

Replacing standardized testing with portfolio-based assessments prioritizes underserved communities. It also gives each individual applicant a unique chance to express themselves in their college applications, rather than let a single number stand in for the story of their life.

‘It’s the Life of the Mind’: How Books Bind Princeton Together

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By Kim Hong

Inside the glass doors and beyond the pyramid of books, life-sized yellow spoons with tiny handles hang upside down from the ceiling. College and high school students alike roam the book tables beneath the suspended utensils. But at Labyrinth Books on Nassau Street, readers of all ages can be spotted too. “The little kids love the spoons hanging from the ceiling,” said general manager Virginia Harabin. “You see a lot of little kids look up and go, ‘Woah.’”

The spoons aren’t the only way Harabin and her staff at Labyrinth Books weave together a community as strong as a Chinese finger trap. “It’s a matter of keeping up with kids,” Harabin said. “It was the kids who made us have a manga section.”

A must-go for Princeton University students, the indie bookstore has become more than just a family business. Orange and black notebooks are available on discount to Princeton students on a shelf in the lower level, where the store used to sell textbooks as well. 

Since the rise of PDFs, the area has shifted its focus to serving as an event space for writers, published or not. “The bookstore is kind of like a gateway and a mediator between the university and the town,” said Harabin, motioning from one side to another.

Princeton’s book spaces aren’t just utilized by university students, though. The Princeton Public Library (PPL) serves the diverse town and its many tourists. The library’s accessibility is a point of pride. “I think we have nine world languages represented at the moment physically in terms of books for adults and for children,” said Nora Walsh, PPL’s Adult Services Librarian. 

In the aftermath of Covid and amidst the increasingly pervasive use of technology in society, both Labyrinth Books and PPL have taken risks to expand or further invest in their staff and facilities instead of shying away. As a result, both spaces have strengthened how they serve the town’s diverse community. 

“There was a mother and two small children. One was three or four, and one was a baby that should have been in the walker, ” said RoMa Johnson, an author and volunteer writing group leader at PPL. “But the mother was carrying the baby, and the walker was filled with books!” 

Johnson’s voice rose as she remembered the quirkiness of the sight. “I mean, literally, this high,” RoMa said, laughing and raising her hand a foot or two above the table. She hosts several writer’s workshops in-person and online at PPL, open to anyone who can make it. “There was a man from Iran who was writing stories about his childhood,” she said, her tone filled with wonder and pride. “In the same group, I had a woman from Poland and another woman from China.” 

Labyrinth Books’ effort to remain integrated with the Princeton community shows in the intentional way they’ve taken care of their staff and store design. “We even think about the physical location, to make sure the YA section is distinct and apart a little bit, enough from the kid section,” Harabin said. “Because kids and young adults are not the same, and they don’t want to be treated the same.” 

After Covid, Labyrinth continued to close doors at 6 PM instead of returning to its pre-pandemic evening hours, said Harabin. As someone who has always wanted to work in a bookstore, she makes sure that Labyrinth’s staff want to be there. 

“There are certain things that you do for your staff, maybe that aren’t even the best thing for business, but we have to balance those things,” Harabin said. “There’s no doubt that people who come to the store, either for one visit or who come every day, they get to know the staff. It’s like your bartender, your barista.”

It’s true. Labyrinth’s staff can be seen chatting with visitors about book recommendations, Princeton, or anything else, either between shelves or at the check-out desk, where local artists promote their work on stickers and postcards. 

Local writers also get a chance to be spotlighted to the Princeton community. “We want to help them build an audience as they help us build ours,” said Alyssa Kopanyi, the events coordinator for Labyrinth Books. 

The tightly-woven relationship between Labyrinth and its patrons have protected the bookstore, allowing its staff to follow their own path, despite what others may say. “We had Mohammed Al-Kurd, who’s a young Palestinian journalist and writer. We had a huge packed room for that,” Harabin said. “There were some people who told us that we shouldn’t have an event like that. They objected on political grounds.”

However, Harabin and Kopanyi’s determination to pour their Labyrinth hearts into Princeton’s ever-shifting cup has only made their community all the more robust, allowing the bookstore and its staff to sustain themselves regardless of how much the community around the town’s book spaces has changed. 

As Harabin says: “Nothing stays the same. We don’t stay the same. But it stays interesting because it’s books and it’s people and it’s the life of the mind.”

Inside Princeton’s Literary Living Room

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By Thien Nguyen

Before they walk across the stage, some Princeton University graduates make one final pit stop: Labyrinth Books. They wander the familiar shelves and say goodbye to the faces of the employees. “A lot of times students, when they’re graduating, will come in to say goodbye,” said Virginia Harabin, the bookstore’s general manager. “Or they’ll come back and say, ‘I always came here. I always came here to hang out in the stacks.’”

For those students, this small independent bookstore on Nassau Street was more than just a place to purchase assigned books for the syllabus. “‘This was my refuge,’” Harabin recounted students saying. “This was my place where I could get away.”

Beyond the university, Princeton is home to a rich literary community. Young children arrive for story time, high school and college students fill tables after class, working adults open their laptops, and retirees finally begin the stories they have spent years imagining. Across their various workshops and book tours — which are free and open for all to attend — Princeton Public Library and Labyrinth Books offer spaces to connect. Together, these local institutions transform Princeton’s “literary prestige” into something people can encounter daily. 

As Nora Walsh, the Adult Services Librarian at Princeton Public Library, described, “one of our taglines has been that we are the community’s living room.” Many people drop by on weekdays, using the second floor as a place to work and study. On the first floor, young children can be found running around in the play space. Movies, video games, magazines, CDs, and other physical media are available for rent on shelves. The library also offers Tonieboxes for young children to play with, which are often checked out.

The library is offered as a space beyond just checking out and retrieving books. It’s a space that meets people where they are. RoMa Johnson has been leading writing groups like the Writers Room critique group for ten years. It offers community and feedback for many writers, from young adults over the age of 18 to those up into their 80s. The group is also diverse in its participants. ”There was a woman recently here from China who didn’t speak much English. She wrote in Chinese and then had it translated for others to read,” said Johnson. “The other day, we had a drop-in meeting. There was a man from Iran who was writing stories about his childhood.”

Labyrinth Books came to Princeton in 2007 as a store primarily to sell coursebooks for Princeton students. “Our relationship with the students is foundational for us,” said Harabin. “They needed somebody. So we came to serve students and to serve the university and the faculty there.”

Despite no longer offering the required course materials for students, Labyrinth Books remains a foundational center for this local community. Alyssa Kopanyi, the bookstore’s events coordinator, ensures that “the bookstore is a gateway and a mediator between the university and the town.”

The events hosted by the bookstore take place in the basement, with a maximum capacity of 225. All the events are conversations between an author and an interviewer. During many events, Kopanyi recalled, “I looked out, and everyone had a notebook. This is a room exclusively for writers, and that was really wonderful.” After these events, people would line up to get their copies signed and get advice from the author about their own manuscripts. 

Labyrinth also makes an effort to use their platform to promote local authors. Events like the Writers on Writing Series focus primarily on advertising books by local authors. The bookstore partners with other prominent authors to co-sponsor events, bridging the gap by creating a mentorship between local authors and popular authors. 

The store and library also tailor themselves to a young audience. They frequently come in and request manga, romance, and science fiction offerings. As Harabin described, “I learn so much from our customers every day, all the time. We try to offer lots of things. But we also respond back to things that they’re asking for.”

Both Labyrinth and the Princeton Public Library build Princeton’s literary culture through their daily encounters with scholars, residents, young readers, booksellers, aspiring writers, or even just a curious audience. “This is a place for lifelong learners in so many ways, right?” says Harabin. “It’s all a little bit ineffable, but it’s also just very much part of the fabric of what we’re doing.”

Princeton Reporters Keep Local Journalism Alive

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By Shane Mukasa

From Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Kelmer’s 18th century transformation of the Pennsylvania Gazette to the hard-hitting journalism that covers the milestones and phenomena of our lives today, reporting has become a means for communities to understand the world around them. Whether it’s the talk of the town or a little league game, there’s something special about a local story that shows the humanity in all of us.

Recent years have seen the unfortunate and uncertain side effects of waning local journalism. In 2025, only 21% of Americans said that they follow local news very closely and only 8% said that they preferred getting their news from a local paper. The Star-Ledger, once a bustling newspaper based in Newark, NJ, closed its print operations in 2025. According to a Rutgers University-New Brunswick report, New Jersey lost more than 100 local media outlets statewide between 2020 and 2025. Does this spell the end of local journalism; outclassed by its cooler, hipper social media site counterparts? 

“Everything you do, especially in this business is important.” Says Rich Rein, a longtime New Jersey journalist. Rein’s career, which spans six decades, began in 1965. As a student writer for The Daily Princeton, Rein oversaw coverage of major American historical moments like the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. In 1984 he founded U.S. 1, a local business and entertainment journal that he ran for over three decades before stepping down in 2019. Today Rein edits TAPinto Princeton, a digital-only publication that covers the politics, arts, and life in the town of Princeton. 

Rein refers to the process of assembling stories for TAPinto Princeton as “putting together a smorgasbord.” To Rein, the story of a cat stuck in a tree, and the team of fifth graders who created a “human chain” to rescue the cat, demonstrates everything right about local media. Stories like this, written by local reporters, don’t just highlight the tribulations of a town, but also the niches that make a town unique. 

“We really do a service to the community,” says Anne Levin, a longtime local reporter who writes for Town Topics and Princeton Magazine. Publications like Town Topics, and others like it, operate at smaller numbers than in their glory day. Town Topics is a weekly, print-only newspaper that depends on the work of experienced journalists. In the past, the paper’s younger interns have moved on after two years. “As they should,” Levin said. The industry that Levin joined six decades ago is changing. The Washington Post recently laid off one-third of its workforce and scaled back its local news reporting. These developments reflect a shift in priorities for media outlets looking to stay alive in an increasingly competitive media landscape.

These changes threaten an institution historically dedicated to covering communities and defending the truth. How can local media survive and thrive in this environment? This is a question that Ayinde Merill, a program officer for the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, is trying to answer. The Consortium works to support and sustain local reporting by funding local publications and projects that support small newsrooms, as well as programs that train students and community members to become storytellers and newsroom reporters. A vast majority of the Consortium’s grantees are “small, community-led newsrooms,” Marill said. His work is keeping journalism alive through the work of people who don’t just believe in themselves, but who believe that the purpose of local media is to uplift perspectives from the communities it serves.  

The state of journalism today is not clear. The purpose of telling stories isn’t changing, but the way that we tell them is. Social media and AI are shaping the way we share and consume information, but within a changing world, four New Jerseyans are finding ways to keep journalism alive. When Rein opens a blank document to write a story, he remembers something that a mentor once told him: “This could be the greatest thing I’ve ever written in my life.” 

In Princeton, Local Newspapers Live On

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By Stella Vrapi

The timeless thump of a newspaper hits the ground, crinkling slightly as the paper repulses from the interaction, inexorably asserting its presence. Hundreds more imitate this process in small towns across the country, piling up on the lawns of houses, cascading as the illumination of knowledge at the hands of print spreads. That same sound has reverberated for decades as print news outlets have maintained themselves within their local communities.

One of these local print publications, Town Topics, is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The paper has published weekly community news stories since 1946. Localized print journalism plays a large part in informing readers about stories pertaining to their community. “I know there are six members of council and there’s the mayor,” said Anne Levin, a staff writer at Town Topics. “I know the personalities of each one of them. I know their quirks, I know what they’re going to talk about.” 

Town Topics is the most prominent independent print newspaper in Princeton. It used to compete for readership with the Princeton Packet, which was founded in 1786. Generations of New Jersey families have all experienced the timeless thump upon their unchanging lawns, worn with the tender experiences of each local community. Yet, even the Princeton Packet, one of New Jersey’s oldest newspapers, halted its local commercial printing in late 2015.

Presently, the familiar thump has manifested as a ding ding ding! Many local print newspapers have turned digital amidst the technological advances of the 21st century. Rich Rein, a lifelong journalist and Princeton resident, is deeply ingrained within the local community. Five years ago, he founded an all-digital newspaper, TAPinto Princeton, which publishes stories daily. “One of the things I’m trying to do with TAPinto Princeton is to turn it into a community-owned publication, so that it is literally owned by a group of us in the community,” Rein said. 

Regardless of the medium, local journalism serves to uplift the truths that wouldn’t be covered by larger, general outlets, creating a collective sense of agency. As Rein points out, despite print and digital publications often being compared within local journalism, the two work in unison to build a united, driven community.

Today, local news coverage is threatened by a myriad of challenges. One is accessibility. Ayinde Merrill is a grassroots community organizer who works as a Program Officer for the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, a grant-making organization which funds community and news organizations. “If there’s a news desert somewhere in New Jersey, I’ll go to that place, I’ll figure out who’s there, who’s not there, how people get their information, what information is missing, and find ways to start news projects there,” Merrill said. 

Many communities in New Jersey, though, lack the presence of local journalistic outlets entirely. Salem City in South Jersey, home to immigrants and a large Black population, is a news desert. “They aren’t the wealthiest people in the world, but they still deserve local news to figure out what’s happening in their community,” said Merrill. The historical marginalization of communities of color has resulted in distrust and a lack of accountability between journalistic outlets and the people they serve.

In addition to inaccessibility, local journalism is struggling under severe funding constraints. According to Merrill, the Consortium’s budget was cut by the state for fiscal year 2027 until lawmakers restored $1 million in funding after community leaders lobbied. Dwindling print publications that fail to sustain themselves are bought out by larger companies or shuttered for good. This is what happened to The Trenton Times, where Levin previously worked. 

“There’s less interaction between the institution, the municipal institution, the civic institution, and the civic newspaper,” said Rein. Surviving small publications are often understaffed, Town Topics and TAPinto Princeton included. At TAPinto Princeton, Rain is the only full-time staff member alongside “a cadre of about five or six freelance writers.” 

Even with staffing and funding cuts, local publications have remained optimistic and dedicated to their craft, continuing a legacy of local representation led by the people. “I feel like we really do a service to the community, and that’s a nice thing to feel,” said Levin. 

Rein feels similarly. “Others of us, including myself, work for nothing, and it’s a bizarre kind of place you get to in life where you don’t want to be paid,” he said. Rein, like Levin, is motivated solely by the love for his community, attesting to the strength of these local publications to persist in the face of adversity.

In spite of these challenges, local newspapers continue to thump and ding, and will well into the future. In the words of Rich Rein, “Amazingly, we all do die, but other people go on.”