Welcome to the Plainfield Patch

All Plainfield news, all the time – that's what plainfield.patch.com is. We're your hometown newspaper but with a twist: You won't find us on the newsstand and you won't have to fork out 75 cents for your daily dose of what's happening in your community.

But if you join us here in cyberspace, you'll find everything traditional newspapers have — and more, because we don't have the cost of buying paper and ink, running presses and getting the paper to your doorstep at a pre-prescribed time.

Instead, we'll post news as soon as we learn it. We can create an immediate forum for discussion on topics that are happening right now. And as everyone knows by now, the Internet has endless amounts of space so we'll have lots of room for photographs, videos and other things that will give our stories depth as well as substance.

We cover breaking news, yes, but we also cover schools, sports, crime, business, events and, most importantly, people.

I've been a newspaper editor now for more than two decades, so I know what I'm doing and I recognize news when I hear it. Best of all, I'm easy to get a hold of by e-mail (karen@patch.com), phone (815-666-4027 is my cell) and even by tweeting me at twitter.com/PlainfieldPatch.

So just what is patch.com? First and foremost, we're committed to Freedom of the Press and providing the information people in a community need to make informed decisions, understand where they live and have a high quality of life.

To that end, you'll find a complete calendar of events and we encourage our readers to add their own (it's free!). You'll also find a complete directory of every business in town, making it easy to find a florist, order a pizza or check out a new church.

We believe people who are invested in their town provide the keystone to making a community strong, and to that end we practice what we preach. Not only do we post places that are in need of volunteers, you'll find me doing my share by volunteering my time as well.

So, check us out on a daily basis and find out what's happening in your community. Sign up for text alerts and daily e-mail newsletters. Send us information on your events or post it yourself. If you have a story idea, just click on the "News Tip" link and let me know.

This is your newspaper, and we want you to be a part of it. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together!