Gongwer News Service is now affiliated with Pluribus News, the groundbreaking digital town hall for democracy that unites a national network of statehouse reporters to offer unrivaled coverage of state-level policy and politics.

We're thrilled to welcome this outlet, which is in addition to the 12 other newsrooms that operate across the country as part of the State Affairs network.

While we operate in different states, all of our partners are united in a mission to offer impartial, objective coverage of important legislation and the people and interests behind it. The inclusion of Pluribus News in the State Affairs network now gives us – and subscribers who need it – baseline news coverage and legislative information across 50 states.

In the near future, you will see Pluribus News content on the Gongwer platform, giving you more context about how policy issues are being addressed across the country.

Look for more news and information about the Pluribus News partnership with Gongwer and State Affairs in the near future.

For any questions about this new partnership, please feel free to reach out, or contact sales@stateaffairs.com if you're interested in 50-state bill tracking or news and information from additional states in our footprint.

As a reminder, State Affairs operates news bureaus in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas, California and Arizona.

In the meantime, enjoy the additional Pluribus content available through Gongwer. Thank you, as always, for your interest in Gongwer and our services.

– By Zach Gorchow

Gongwer News Service announced Thursday 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.com or via this suggestion/tip form.

Gongwer News Service has updated its staff lists for House and Senate members.

Subscribers interested in taking advantage of this service can look at these exclusive one-click lists, complete with email addresses and titles:

House staff

Senate staff

MichMash received the Community Involvement Award from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters on Saturday for the podcast's live episode in 2024 on the November elections.

MichMash is a podcast partnership between Gongwer News Service and WDET Detroit Public Radio.

In October, MichMash recorded an episode before a live audience at UrbanBeat in Lansing's Old Town. Guests included communications professionals Andrea Bitely of Bitely Communications and Josh Hovey of Bellwether Public relations and former legislators Jase Bolger and Chris Greig.

MichMash competed in a group of larger public radio stations.

Recognized in the award were co-hosts Zach Gorchow, Alethia Kasben and Cheyna Roth, and producer Hernz Laguerre Jr.

MichMash also received an award of Merit in the Special Interest & Cultural Programming for its coverage of the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference, also among larger radio stations. WDET was named Station of the Year among Public Radio Group 2 stations, the larger public radio stations.

New MichMash episodes drop by 6 a.m. every Friday on all podcasting platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. They also can be found on the Gongwer MichMash page.

– By Zach Gorchow

MichMash, the podcast partnership between Gongwer News Service and WDET Detroit Public Radio, has received recognition from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters in its annual Broadcast Excellence Awards.

Receiving a Merit Award in the Special Interest & Cultural Programming category was the episode featuring interviews and analysis after the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference.

The episode "MichMash: Live from Lansing" – where the show recorded at UrbanBeat before a live audience – is a finalist for Best Community Involvement with the winner of that award to be announced in April. Also a finalist in that category is "Issues & Ale: It's Just Politics" from Michigan Public.

A new episode of MichMash drops every Friday on all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It's also available on the Gongwer MichMash page and the WDET YouTube channel.

Be sure to subscribe on your favorite platform so you get alerted to all new episodes.

Frustrated with having to send emails to staff to advise them of activity on important bills or how to coordinate tracked bills lists among your staff? Gongwer News Service's shared bill tracking is the answer.

Gongwer's shared tracking allows subscribers to sync lists of tracked bills among staff and sends emails alerts as soon as there is activity on a tracked bill, saving time and hassle.

Following are some answers to common questions about Gongwer's shared bill tracking system. Contact Gongwer at support@gongwer.com for more information and to schedule a tutorial.

Q: How do I access this service, and does it cost more?

A: There is no additional charge. To start access to this service, email support@gongwer.com. Once we activate the service, then anytime a staff member with a user account tracks a bill, they will have the option to select the staff members who should have the bill or bills added to their tracked bill lists, Tracking Groups, or both. Going forward, anytime there is activity on one of their tracked bills, Gongwer will send an email, text message, or both, depending on their settings.

Please note: Access to this service has some contractual limitations for state departmental and legislative subscribers.

Q: Can anyone with a user account on our staff edit bills or enter information for a status report?

A: Yes, you can decide whether to have a person handle changes for your team, or anyone with a user account on your staff can add/delete bills and update status reports.

Q: What if we hire someone new later this year? How do we make sure they are in sync with what we've already tracked?

A: If your organization tracks a large number of bills, it's a good idea to sort those into Tracking Groups, whether that's based on client, topic or some other method of dividing up the bills. All you need to do is go to Tracking and then Tracking Groups. Select the Bulk Track Groups option, pick the group or groups you wish to share and then select the staff members who should have access to tracking. Click share, and they are all set.