Nota News Launches with Microsoft and TollBit to Restore Local Journalism and Expand Civic Access

Launching on National Voter Registration Day, Nota News brings bilingual local reporting and civic tools to underserved communities.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, September 16, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Nota today announced the launch of Nota News, a new initiative to restore and sustain local journalism in underserved communities, in partnership with TollBit, Springwire and Microsoft.

Nota News is already live across 11 county-focused sites: sutter.news (CA), johnsonks.news (KS), montgomerytx.news (TX), henricocountyva.news (VA), chesterfieldcountyva.news (VA), hamiltoncountyin.news (IN), spartanburgcountysc.news (SC), daviscountyut.news (UT), forsythcountyga.news (GA), frederickcountymd.news (MD), and webercountyut.news (UT). Each site provides daily coverage of government, schools, sports, and community issues in both English and Spanish, powered by Polaris, Nota’s media focused large language model, and overseen by Nota’s editorial team.

Launching on National Voter Registration Day, each site also provides local voter registration tools and civic resources. Microsoft played a key role in connecting Nota with the right data partners, enabling residents in every county to access accurate, up-to-date voter registration information directly from their local news sites.

“Local news is the connective tissue of a community,” said Josh Brandau, CEO of Nota. “With Microsoft and TollBit, we’re not just publishing stories, we’re building the technology that ensures every community has access to timely, accurate, and meaningful reporting. Our goal is to provide this ingest and distribution engine to media partners so they can focus on the stories of the communities they serve.”

The first wave of counties was chosen using the Medill Local News Initiative’s research on news deserts, which tracks where communities are at greatest risk of losing local coverage. Nota’s solutions bring measurable efficiencies that allow local news to be produced at scale: up to 90% faster pre-publication workflows for SEO optimization and formatting, 85% faster newsletter production with higher open rates, and a 25% increase in content output through integrated tools such as SCRIPT, CLIP, and SOCIAL.

“Microsoft is committed to supporting the future of local journalism and civic engagement,” said Matt Masterson, Director of Information Integrity at Microsoft. “By helping connect Nota with the right data partners, we’ve ensured that every Nota News site includes voter registration resources alongside trusted reporting. Launching this initiative on National Voter Registration Day underscores how technology can empower people to participate more fully in their democracy.”

Sustainable funding is central to Nota News, supported through TollBit’s monetization infrastructure. “At TollBit, we believe monetization must be built into the foundation of local news if it is going to thrive again,” said Olivia Joslin, Co-founder and COO of TollBit. “Our partnership with Nota ensures these new community sites are supported by sustainable revenue streams that reflect the value of their content in today’s digital and AI-driven ecosystem.”

“We’re proud to support Nota News and the publishers behind it,” said David Schmeltzle, President of BizBudding. “Through Springwire, we provide the hosting, development, 1st-party data management, and monetization services that enable these local news sites to thrive. It’s exciting to see technology and publishing come together to strengthen communities and expand civic access.”

For Nota’s editorial leadership, the project is about more than efficiency. “As journalists, we know how vital local coverage is to civic life,” said Isabella Rolz, Editorial Director at Nota. “With Nota News, we’re proving that technology and journalism can work hand-in-hand to strengthen communities. Having reported for The Washington Post, ABC News, and Univision, I’ve seen firsthand the importance of bilingual, trusted local reporting. Nota News is a chance to rebuild that, stronger than before.”

About Nota
Nota is the AI-powered content platform built for media. Its suite of solutions streamlines content creation, optimization, and distribution across text, video, audio, social, and newsletters. At its core is Polaris, Nota’s journalism-tuned large language model that outperforms general models on accuracy, context, and editorial precision. Nota partners with national, regional, and local media organizations to improve workflows, increase audience engagement, and create new revenue opportunities. Learn more at www.heynota.com.

About TollBit
TollBit is a platform that enables a fair exchange of value between AI companies and websites. By essentially installing a toll booth on websites, TollBit allows them to monitor bot traffic and monetize their data and content, while offering AI agents and applications an easy way to pay directly for that content. The platform seeks to address the shifting economics of content creation in the AI era by reducing the legal uncertainties of scraping and protecting the health of the entire content ecosystem. Follow TollBit on LinkedIn for the latest information on AI bots and agents, and the new AI Internet.

About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) enables digital transformation for the era of intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. Microsoft Azure powers Nota News with secure, scalable infrastructure that supports enterprise-grade compliance and the future of local journalism.

About Springwire
Springwire is a product of BizBudding, Inc., a leading provider of digital publishing platforms and services. Springwire powers news and niche media websites with turnkey infrastructure, including secure hosting, advanced development tools, 1st-party data management, and revenue optimization through the BizBudding Publisher Network. The platform is designed to help publishers grow sustainable businesses by combining high-performance technology with monetization expertise. Learn more at https://springwire.ai and https://bizbudding.com.

Joshua Brandau
Nota
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