How you can help the Turner Report/Inside Joplin without subscribing or donating

Since the end of my teaching career, I have made a concerted effort to operate an alternative news source for Joplin and the surrounding area.

The Turner Report has been publishing since 2003 and in November 2013, it was joined by Inside Joplin, Inside Joplin Obituaries, the Turner Resports and Inside the Ozarks (now Inside Springfield).

While the Turner Report has offered news and commentary, including more investigative reporting than you will find from other area media sources, Inside Joplin has concentrated more on records, crime and community news, and Inside Joplin Obituaries has published more than 5,000 free obituaries.

The scope and frequency of the publications have increased and I fully intend to continue improving and building on the foundation that has been built.

The Turner Report/Inside Joplin blogs now reach an average of half a million unique visitors every month and more than 16,000 per day.

News operations have a difficult time making it financially in this day and age and the Turner Report/Inside Joplin has had its ups and downs. As I have worked on building the news operation, I have managed to make it on a month-to-month basis on a teacher's pension (with about 10 to 12 years of service less than anticipated), sales from my books and e-books, and a lesser amount from the blogs themselves.

Thankfully, that has changed somewhat since I began offering voluntary subscriptions and receiving contributions. The blogs have had many months when they have received enough from those sources to keep me from losing money and even to add a little into the bank account.

After the publication of Silver Lining in a Funnel Cloud: Greed, Corruption and the Joplin Tornado in 2015, I suffered from some health problems, which I wrote about on the Turner Report. Thankfully, for the past several months, my health has been fine, and I have been able to once again work on books.

A few weeks ago, I published two new books, Classroom Confidential and Sports Talk Memories, and I will have at least one more new book coming out before the end of the year.

For the first time, I decided to take a stab at merchandising with the new Turner Report t-shirts, which arrived earlier this week.

It has not been easy to come to readers and ask for voluntary subscriptions or contributions to blogs that they can read for free. It has been gratifying that so many of you have appreciated having an alternative news source for the Joplin area enough to contribute. While obviously, if every one of the 16,000 daily visitors contributed a couple of dollars, this news operation would be in great financial shape, that is not going to happen.

I fully realize that you have many things that you need to spend money on. If this is one that you feel provides a valuable service to you and you can afford it, please by all means consider giving something. (And I am asking that those of you who have provided frequent contributions, please do not make another one as a result of this post. While those are always much appreciated, you have done your part.)

As of this morning, I am involved in something I hope will allow you to help make this one-man show a bit more lucrative. I have signed a contract to provide three columns per week for the national website Blasting News. I will be writing about politics, education, culture, and anything else that might interest the website's readers.

As part of the terms of the contract, these columns, which will be more national in scope, will only appear on Blasting News, though I will promote them on the Turner Report and on Facebook and other social media.

Blasting News writers are paid on the basis of how much traffic they steer to the website. So Turner Report/Inside Joplin readers, if you have an interest in my writing on these topics, I ask you to check out my Blasting News columns and if you like them, share them with your friends on social media.

The first one is an examination of Fox News host Tucker Carlson, in a column titled "Tucker Carlson Bullies His Way to the Top, but for How Long?"

Check it out and let me know what you think. All you have to do it is go to the site and read the.article. You do not have to click on any ads.

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Don't forget about the first signing for Classroom Confidential and Sports Talk Memories, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, September 16, at Always Buying Books. My earlier books and the Turner Report t-shirts will be available. Anyone buying two books or a book and a t-shirt will receive a free copy of one of my three early books, Small Town News, The Turner Report, or Newspaper Days. The three books will be on sale for $2 otherwise. Hope to see you there!

T-shirts or subscriptions are also available by using the PayPal buttons on the right side of this page. Thanks for your support!