Mike Livingston, Gongwer's long-time assistant editor and former staff writer, has been named editor of the Gongwer News Service Ohio Report.

Krista Kano, Gongwer's beat reporter on the state budget and human services issues, has been named assistant editor.

Livingston joined Gongwer in 2015, primarily covering energy and utility issues. He was named assistant editor in 2022. A graduate of Purdue University, he is the treasurer of the Ohio Legislative Correspondents Association and president of the Society of Professional Journalists Central Ohio Chapter. Prior to joining Gongwer, he reported for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette, Indiana. He can be reached at mlivingston@gongwer-oh.com.

Kano joined Gongwer in 2022 after working as a community reporter at the Akron Beacon Journal. She also worked previously at the Record-Courier in Kent and at Chagrin Valley Publishing. Kano graduated from Boston University, where she covered the Massachusetts State House. She can be reached at kkano@gongwer-oh.com.

Joining Gongwer as a staff writer is Paige Fisher, a graduate of Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Communications. Fisher is a former reporter with The Post in Athens and reported for The Portager in Kent. A native of Thornville, she was also editor and reporter of her hometown's The General Idea and a department editor for Southeastern Ohio Magazine. At Gongwer, Fisher will cover several beats, including politics and elections. She can be reached at pfisher@gongwer-oh.com.

Livingston succeeds Kent Cahlander, who has retired from Gongwer after 27 years. He was Gongwer's editor for more than 20 years, covering countless lawmakers and governors, and taking a special interest in state budgets and tax policy.

Gongwer News Service today announced a new feature that lets subscribers keep clients, associates and members informed about legislative activity: automated email scheduling and delivery of bill status reports.

With this new service, subscribers can now schedule their status reports to be automatically sent by email on the days and times that work best for their audience – eliminating the need for manual report generation and sending.

Subscribers can choose which reports they want to send and when. Once schedules are set, there is no need to manually create and send reports.

Scheduled sends can be activated by clicking the Share or Schedule link on the Gongwer Bill Tracking page. Clicking Schedule will launch a page that allows subscribers to pick the Tracking Group they want to schedule, choose the recipients and set the time and frequency of how often updates are distributed.

Whether you're updating clients on legislative developments, keeping association members informed, communicating with constituents or briefing internal teams, this new tool saves time and streamlines your reporting workflow. Simply choose your recipients, set your preferred schedule and Gongwer's system will deliver your reports.

Additional service enhancements are under development. Subscribers are welcome to send suggestions – or request a demo of the new automated send feature – to info@gongwer-oh.com or via this suggestion/tip form.

Gongwer's Statehouse Job Market has been updated. The update is available on the Gongwer website.

Subscribers interested in posting job openings on Gongwer's employment board can send job descriptions and other information to gongwer@gongwer-oh.com.

Gongwer News Service is pleased to announce its affiliation with State Affairs, a growing news company dedicated to expanding coverage of state capitols across the country.

The alignment matches Gongwer's expertise in covering state government and delivering best-in-class legislative information tools with a leading and talented group that understands the importance of issues decided at the state level.

Under the alignment, Gongwer-style news and information services will be available in more states, helping government leaders, policy professionals, advocates and the public be more informed about the essential operations of state governments.

State Affairs will also bring additional staff and support to bolster Gongwer operations.

There are no changes to Gongwer leadership, management or staff, or any services Gongwer provides to subscribers.

Gongwer and State Affairs look forward to rolling out several new products and enhancements to existing services, including the release this week of enhanced Ohio Report and Ohio Media Clips emails.

Gongwer News Service was founded in 1906 by Charles S. Gongwer. State Affairs was founded in 2021 with a mission to invest in and expand non-partisan news and information services across the country.

Gongwer News Service today announced the availability of a new feature that allows subscribers to listen to the Gongwer Ohio Report and individual articles.

To use the feature, just click on a Gongwer article or a daily report. Then click the Listen button and the content will begin to play. Users can pause and resume playback of the content.

The voice that reads Gongwer content may vary by device and is determined by your browser.

The new feature follows the deployment of a number of other service enhancements over the last several months.

Gongwer subscribers who have ideas for other new features or services are encouraged to submit suggestions to info@gongwer-oh.com or via a form on the Gongwer website.

Gongwer News Service is excited to announce a pick the election winners contest for the November 8 general election.

To participate, fill out the online survey.

Participants will answer a variety of questions making predictions about the election. There is no charge to participate.

There will be a public announcement of the winner once final, unofficial election results are complete.

Rather than awarding prizes to the winners, Gongwer will donate to the Ohio Youth and Government program in honor of all participants.

About the Ohio Youth and Government program:

Youth & Government is a national government and politics program that promotes civic literacy as well as community service.

Ohio's YMCA Youth & Government program began in 1952 and reflects the idea that "democracy must be learned by each generation" – Ben Franklin. The Ohio YMCA Youth & Government program provides high school and middle school students with a unique opportunity to become acting state legislators, governors, lobbyists, lawyers, committee chairs. The students simulate all phases and positions of the actual state government. These students are challenged with many of the issues our real legislators must face in their elected offices.

Contest rules:

• One entry per person
• Contest submission deadline is 7:30 p.m. on November 8, 2022.
• Personal information will only be used for contest purposes and not for ongoing marketing efforts, nor will it be shared with any other entity for those purposes