If you live in Alabama and you’ve been looking for a politics newsletter that covers what’s actually happening here — not national takes recycled onto a state dateline — The Frequency is it.
Published every Thursday at readtheroom.news, The Frequency is a free weekly newsletter covering Alabama local government news and state politics, with a particular focus on Chambers County and East Alabama. Each issue runs five stories selected for their relevance to people who live here and whose daily lives are shaped by decisions made in Montgomery, in Valley City Hall, and in commission chambers that don’t always make the front page.
What The Frequency Covers
Five categories anchor every issue:
Energy & Utilities — Alabama Power rates, Public Service Commission decisions, what’s driving your power bill and who’s voting on it.
Education — Teacher compensation, curriculum law, what’s changing in Alabama classrooms and what the state’s Education Trust Fund is paying for.
Elections & Voting — Redistricting maps, candidate races, runoff results, voter guides before key elections.
Local Government — Chambers County commission votes, Valley and Lanett city news, land use and development — the decisions that shape what your neighborhood looks like in five years.
Statewide Politics — The Alabama legislature, governor’s office, and state agencies, filtered for what actually lands in East Alabama.
Not every story makes national news. Most of them don’t. That’s the point.
Why Local Alabama Government News Is Worth Following
State and local government is where most policy becomes daily life. The federal government authorizes; the state funds; the county implements; the city feels it. By the time a story reaches a major outlet — if it ever does — the vote has already happened.
Alabama’s legislative session wraps in spring. By summer, what passed in Montgomery is already law. Power rate structures are set. Redistricting maps are drawn. Career and technical education funding is either in the budget or it isn’t. The Frequency reads the session so you can understand the outcome, not just the headline.
Since April 2026, eight issues have covered: Alabama Power’s rate structure and the Public Service Commission race; the Callais redistricting ruling and its impact on Chambers County; the District 38 Democratic primary (Hazel Floyd won with 73.8%); a $250 million career and technical education investment; the Moore vs. Hudson Senate runoff; and a PSC Place 2 runoff guide for June 16.
These aren’t national stories. They’re your stories.
How It Works
The Frequency is free. It publishes on Thursdays. Each issue is archived at readtheroom.news/the-frequency/ so nothing disappears.
You don’t need a political background to read it. Each story runs long enough to give you context, short enough to read before your second cup of coffee. The goal isn’t to tell you what to think. It’s to give you what you need to think for yourself.
That’s the frequency we’re on.