Help Center

Personal Info

• • Update your first and last name
• • Change your email address
• • Update your location (city, state, ZIP)

Security

• • Change your password anytime
• • Passwords must be 8+ characters with uppercase, lowercase, number, and special character

Newsletter Preferences

• • Choose frequency: None, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly
• • Enable/disable ZIP code summaries
• • Receive curated updates about your locations

How to Access

Click your profile icon in the top-right corner and select "Account Info", or go directly to /account

Adding Locations

1. Go to your Account page
2. Click "Add Location"
3. Enter your ZIP code
4. Select the type: City, County, or State
5. Choose from the matching locations
6. Click "Save" to add it to your list

Location Types

• City: City council meetings, local ordinances, municipal services
• County: County commission, sheriff, regional services
• State: State legislature, governor actions, statewide policy

Creating Alerts

1. Go to Account → Alerts tab
2. Click "Create New Alert"
3. Enter a name for your alert (e.g., "Budget Updates")
4. Add topics/terms to track (up to 5) using typeahead suggestions or custom entries
5. Select specific commissions/jurisdictions (up to 5) or choose "All Citizen Portal Content"
6. Choose match type: Exact (matches exact terms) or Similar (uses AI to find related topics)
7. Save your alert

Selecting a Specific Jurisdiction

To create an alert for a specific commission:

1. In the jurisdictions section, start typing the name
2. Select from suggestions (city, county, state, or specific commission)
3. Add multiple jurisdictions if you want to track the same topic across different areas

After creating an alert, use the play button to search past articles:

1. Click the play button next to your alert
2. Set the date range (defaults to last 30 days)
3. Set max results (1-100 articles)
4. Click "Run Alert" to search

Matching articles will appear in your notifications menu.

Alert Examples

• "Housing Development": Track new housing projects, zoning changes, affordable housing discussions
• "School Budget": Follow education funding and school board budget decisions
• "Infrastructure": Roads, bridges, water systems, public works projects

Managing Your Subscription

• • View your current plan and features
• • See usage: AI messages, alerts, locations used
• • Upgrade or downgrade your plan
• • View billing history and receipts
• • Cancel subscription (with confirmation)

Applying Coupons

Have a coupon code? Enter it on the Account page under "Apply Coupon". Coupons can provide discounts, free trials, or plan upgrades. Codes are case-insensitive and can only be used once per account.

Content is organized in a geographic hierarchy:

• • National: Federal government, Congress, executive branch
• • State: State legislature, governor, state agencies
• • County: County commission, local courts, county services
• • City/Town: City council, mayor, municipal services

Use the breadcrumb at the top of the page to navigate up and down the hierarchy. For example: United States → California → Los Angeles County → City of Los Angeles. Click any level to jump directly to that feed.

Feed Search Bar

The search bar at the top of any feed lets you search within that location. As you type, a dropdown shows matching results organized into sections:

• • Locations: Jump to another feed
• • Topics: Filter the current feed by topic
• • Articles: Matching articles with highlighted snippets
• • Recent searches: Quickly re-run past queries

Change Location

Click the Change button next to the feed title to switch locations. This opens a dropdown with your recent feeds and a search box. You can also save multiple locations to your account for quick switching between cities.

Articles vs. Civic Meetings

Toggle between Articles and Civic Meetings using the switch at the top of the feed. Articles are AI-generated summaries of key topics. Civic Meetings show the original meeting records with discussion points, decisions, directions, and importance ratings.

Jurisdiction Chips

Below the feed title, clickable chips show the geographic hierarchy — city, county, state, and national levels. Click a chip to navigate to that level's feed. If you have multiple saved cities, the city chip opens a dropdown to switch between them.

By TopicSign in

Filter by topic area: Education, Housing, Transportation, Public Safety, Budget, Environment, and more. Topics are searchable with article counts shown. Requires a free account.

By KeywordSign in

Filter by specific keywords found in articles for your current location. Keywords show article counts so you can see how much content matches. Requires a free account.

By Government Level

Filter by level of government: Federal, State, County, City, or School District. Multiple levels can be selected at once. Available levels depend on the feed you're viewing.

By Date Range

Choose a preset range — Today, Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, Last 12 Months — or set a custom start and end date.

Sort Order

Sort by Recent (newest first) or Newsworthy (ranked by local relevance, limited to the last 7 days).

Active Filters

Applied filters appear as chips above your feed. Click the X on any chip to remove it, or clear all filters at once. Filter state is saved in the URL so you can share filtered views.

Location Map

An interactive map showing the geographic area of the current feed, giving you visual context for the jurisdiction.

Elected Officials

View elected officials for the current jurisdiction — city council members, county commissioners, state legislators, and more (when data is available).

Spending & Scorecards

Quick links to public spending data and jurisdiction performance scorecards, when available for the location.

AI Timeline InsightsPremium

An AI-generated timeline of key events and changes in the jurisdiction. Available to subscribers.

Locality Profile

Detailed profile data for the jurisdiction including demographics and community information, when available.

Show More

Articles load in batches as you scroll. Click "Show More" at the bottom to load the next set of articles.

What It Shows

As you type (minimum 2 characters), a dropdown shows:

• • Recent searches: Your search history for quick access
• • Locations: Matching feeds with breadcrumb paths (e.g., Utah > Salt Lake County)
• • Topics: Matching topic categories Sign in

What Happens When You Select

• • Location: Navigates to that feed
• • Topic: Opens search results filtered by that topic
• • Press Enter: Runs a full keyword search on the search results page

Location Filter

Filter results by a specific city, county, or state. Searchable dropdown with hierarchical location display.

Topic FilterSign in

Narrow results by topic category. Searchable with article counts. Requires a free account.

Keyword FilterSign in

Filter by specific keywords found in articles for the current location. Shows article counts per keyword. Requires a free account.

Date Range

Today, Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, Last 12 Months, or set a custom start and end date.

Government Level

Filter by Federal, State, County, City, or School District. Select multiple levels at once.

Sort Options

Recent: Newest articles first. Newsworthy: Ranked by local relevance (limited to last 7 days).

Result Display

• • Search terms highlighted in article titles and summaries
• • Context snippets show where terms appear
• • Active filters shown as removable chips
• • Infinite scroll loads more results automatically

Shareable Searches

All filter and search state is saved in the URL. Copy the page URL to share a specific filtered search with others — they'll see exactly the same results and filters applied.

1. Type your question in the chat box
2. AI Chat searches our database for relevant content
3. You'll see real-time status as it searches (articles, videos, speakers)
4. AI Chat provides an answer with source citations
5. Click any citation to view the original content

Every answer includes clickable source cards showing:

• • Article/video thumbnail
• • Title and date
• • Location and jurisdiction
• • Click to view full content

Local Government

• • "What recent meetings happened in Salt Lake City?"
• • "What is the city council doing about homelessness?"
• • "Are there any new housing developments proposed?"

Specific Topics

• • "What's being done about pollution in California?"
• • "What motions passed in my county last month?"
• • "How is the school board addressing teacher pay?"

Budget & Finance

• • "What did the city spend on road repairs?"
• • "Is there a property tax increase coming?"
• • "How much funding did parks receive?"

Decision Tracking

• • "Did the zoning change pass?"
• • "What was the vote on the new ordinance?"
• • "Who voted against the budget proposal?"

Conversation History

Ask follow-up questions within your session. AI Chat remembers the context of your conversation, so you can drill deeper into topics.

Share Conversations

Share interesting conversations with others. They can view (read-only) your chat session via a shareable link.

Context-Aware

When viewing an article, open the chat to ask questions specifically about that content. AI Chat knows what you're looking at.

AI-generated overview of the meeting's key points, major discussions, and outcomes. This is the main content you see when viewing an article.

Motions, resolutions, and decisions made during the meeting. Includes vote tallies (Yes/No/Abstain/Absent) when available.

Factual claims made during the meeting, extracted by AI. Includes confidence scores indicating how verifiable the claim is.

Key excerpts and notable moments from the meeting. For video sources, includes timecodes to jump directly to that moment.

People who spoke during the meeting—council members, officials, and public commenters. Click a speaker to jump to their remarks.

All topic tags associated with the article, organized by category. See what subjects were discussed and find related content.

How the content impacts your community: funding sources affected, geographic areas impacted, and groups that may be affected by decisions.

Detailed breakdown of debate outcomes, what was discussed, and what conclusions were reached during the meeting.