Villages News questions
 

As someone who moved to TV recently (April), can someone please give me a quick rundown of the local news sources.

I have inferred from prior threads that one is owned by TV ("the family" I assume) and others are owned by outsiders. I see references to news sources that "shall not be named" and others saying that certain links are not allowed.

So what is the deal? As someone who generally avoids mainstream media I'd like some of your perspectives on the local news options.

The Villages Daily Sun - either owned or closely tied to the Developer. Does not appear to have an online version. I am not a subscriber (don't want to give them money, don't need a bunch of paper to dispose of). What has been described on these boards it sounds like there is a lot of happy news from the area, some national news, and a good amount of advertising for the Villages.

These are the local(ish) sources I follow - all online:

***************** dot com - The news source that shall not be named. An online-only "paper" that primarily reports on police activity, local government meetings (CDD, POA, BoCC), and a large number of letters to the editor. It has been stated a number of times that the principal reporter (owner?) was fired from the Villages and has an axe to grind. The reporting seems to be fairly neutral though since it covers a lot of police activity, there is a lot of crime reported.

Leesburg Daily Commercial - Covers stories local to Leesburg and Lake county. The Villages is mentioned occasionally.

Florida Phoenix and Tampa Bay Times - Florida-centric sources including much about Florida government and politics. Not focussed on the Villages but their area of concern overlaps with the Villages.

The Villages Dailey Sun is a great source of things happening here. The local radio station is also a great source.

The Daily Sun is about TV in a positive sense in that it talks mostly about activities and events significant to TVer's. It is the go to source to find info on entertainment, clubs, etc. It does not report the under belly, like doings at the bars or much about the crime scenes. The not to be mentioned site has historically reported TV negatively, meaning the underbelly (a population of aprox 150,000 actually has crime), but recently seems to be more neutral.

And the cheapest compared to some others close the TV.

Several times now I have been on the not to be named news site villagesxxxx.com and had very scary messages come up about infections, ransom, etc. The last one appeared after I accidently hit the continue button. I have reported problems to the "contact use" button with no response, use with caution.

I haven't seen those but I also use an adblocker. Could those messages be coming from advertisements?

The few times my adblocker has been disabled I have been inundated with ads to the point that it made the site unviewable. As it seems they are hosting a very large number of ads on their page, it wouldn't surprise me if some of those ads were from questionable sources.

“The **************.com". Are they a part of "The Villages” or the fact that they have “-news.com” a tactic to use “The Villages" in their posts but are not associated with TV?

PS
I have the full name in this post but ended displayed as: “The **************.com"
Looks like they are NOT a part of TV.

We view Skip Smith on Tout Tube every Saturday. You will hear about a lot of things you didn't in the Morse's "Rag"

Also the Orlando Sentinel, though like most requires subscription
 

Orlando Sentinel – Orlando Sentinel: Your source for Orlando breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic

for the big city news

Several business in this area use "The Villages" or "Villages" in their names but are not associated with TV. There are even some other communities named "The Villages of..." that are not associated with TV. Both The Property Owner's Association of the Villages (villagespoa.org) and Talk of The Villages have "The Villages" in their name but are not associated with TV?

Villages News covers news about the Villages and the areas immediately surrounding the Villages. The name seems to be descriptive and appropriate, just like Tampa Bay Times, Washington Post, Orlando Sentinel, .....

That's understandable but it appears to be some friction between TV & “The **************.com” as “The **************.com” is the only one I’ve seen where they X it out as happened in this post.

I think “The **************.com” is sometimes redundant as they sometime post new but similar/same comments a few days later.

There is an android app for the daily sun.

Search for

The Villages Daily Sun Mobile

Thanks. There is one for iPhones also.

I'm still not convinced I want to create an account and provide payment information.

I don't see any news to read on the app. I see some links to videos and streaming but no articles to read. Do they appear once I pay for a subscription or am I currently seeing all the available content?

You can get a Daily Sun Paper at your postal station where you pick up your mail as they have paper vending machines located there. I thought most papers including the Sun gave you digital access in addition to the driveway ones?

I don't believe you have to pay for it, I've had it so long I don't remember. I usually use it for the Squares and Entertainment info. They also have a link to the dialy news show but you can get that on YouTube.

I use the X (twitter) feeds for The Daily Sun and for Villages dash News. They'll post stories on X and then link to the full article. Very convenient.

You're retired, stop watching the news and enjoy yourself.

The email publication gives you a lot of what really happens in TV not just where to dine.

I have heard only TV can use the name “The Villages". For example, www.thevillagesgolfcars.com is owned by TV but villagediscountgolfcars.com is not. Don't know if this is true or not.

If it wasn't for the Daily Sun how would all the businesses in and around TV advertise? A paper with some national news, local news, and happy news seems to fill the bill for most of the residents. Look at all the real estate ads, hearing aids Monday, auto Friday, etc. It is a big advertising bundle in the shape of a newspaper. Although comics on Sunday are top notch.......

The Daily Sun newspaper is obviously published to promote The Villages and it does a great job of achieving that objective. It contains a combination of Local News and Features, along with National and International news from mainstream news sources. But, the local news features/stories are typically well written and the paper provides a lot of information related to past, current and future events occurring throughout The Villages. Also, the paper contains ads for local stores and businesses, plus it's a good source if you're shopping for a home in The Villages.

All the above for local news 1440.com daily email for unbiased national and world news

Quickest answer, if you want to read nothing but good news and fluff, get the Daily Sun(shinepumper). If you want to read the bad stuff that the Daily Sun won't publish, go to the unnamed website. Read both, and you've got the scoop.

We subscribe to the Daily Sun and enjoy it, but I personally subscribe to 1440’s daily email too. It’s just the facts ma'am, nothing but the facts, lol. No political bias.

I asked about the app at a Daily Sun booth at a festival recently because I thought as a paper subscriber we’d also have access to all of the paper contents through the app, but nope, it’s just a minimal amount of curated stuff.

1440 is also curated. In fact it's ALL curated, they don't do their own investigative journalism at all. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but - they're not really a "news source." They're a third-party catch-basin for news articles from OTHER sources.

If you want to actually know what a thing is about, you have to click on it, which takes you to the true source of the information, and you can read it there on that other website.

In addition, they don't vet their advertising, they push a lot of alt-woo supplements, treatments, and "gut health" crappola, some of which is written to look like news articles, but is nothing more than sponsored advertising.

The paper that must not be named or that comes up as asterisks is (remove spaces) V I L L A G E S - N E W S D O T C O M

Also, regarding the use of The Villages in one's non-Villages owned entity, here is the page regarding all things Villages logos and copyrights:
Brand & Trademark - The Villages

I get 1440 and skim it in the morning. they try to give unbiased stuff, if that is even possible. However, what is the "investigative Journalism" you speak of? oh yeah, there are a few people on Youtube doing it, but you don't see it on anything mainstream. Its really a shame.

So you sound a lot like me, avoid mainstream media since I don't like to be lied to. I subscribe to the Sun and read it every day. Its the ONLY paper I would ever buy, and it does give you all the local activities, etc. It gives you a bit of world news and tries to put as much of a nonbiased face on it as possible (when you are using traditional news sources its tough). You get enough to be informed. So its the happy news - I am retired, thats what I want. If I want more I go online. I do get 1440 in the mornings but only skim it every few days.

districtgov.org

I did additional research.
“The Villages" is a trademark, registration number 5084701, not just a place name. So no one can use it without TV’s express permission. Looks like ***************** dot com is trying to violate trademark laws by adding “The" before their web address. Like it or not, that is the law.

?? I don’t see the word “The” in either the name of the publication or the web address. Am I missing something?

That is because TV is changing everything to "***************** dot com". " ***************** dot com" is doing the same thing on Facebook where you can see "The".

I’m looking at name on their website and the URL of their website and neither contains “The.”

I see something different on FB but until you mentioned it I didn’t know rather was a FB page. Since It isn’t kept up to date (the most recent post is from back in April) I wonder what is happening with that FB page.

EDIT: The concern over a word is rather moot in this case anyway. The trademark owner has surely been aware of that site for more years than either you or I have. There must be a reason they have not taken action by now.

Agree that TV may know and maybe because it is easy for TV to protect their trademark on TV websites but will require lawyers & time to stop the offending company using FB.

Different Sources
 

As people who like to read the news, we use 4 different sources:
The Daily Sun gives the best happy news about The Villages; it seems no bad news is allowed.
The villages.net gives all the bad news about The Villages and surrounding area (police blotter)
The Orlando Sentinel is our best source for state news
and The New York Times or Wall Street Journal give the best national/international news. Happy Reading!

Could not find villages.net.

Maybe too busy chasing drones. The Daily Sun does seem happy all the time.

Sign up for the District Government newsletters you are interested in (DistrictGov.org). The weekly general newsletter has a lot of information. Also sign up for your district's newsletter.

Sign Up for Email - The Villages Community Development Districts

The District Weekly Bulletin at the bottom under "Other" is a great newsletter - especially for newcomers (but good for everyone). Only sign up for 3-4 different ones or you'll be inundated with emails.