Why I Built The Common News: Local Government in Minutes, Not Hours

January 13, 2026

Original Medium article: Why I Built The Common News: Local Government in Minutes, Not Hours

The "Why": It Started With a Simple Frustration

My name is Devin Thakker. I graduated from Indiana University Bloomington this past May with a focus on Computer Science and Finance. Like a lot of people my age, I have an interest in what is happening around me. I wanted to know what my city leaders were deciding. I wanted to understand the changes that would impact my neighborhood.

But when I tried to stay informed, I hit a wall.

I realized that keeping up with city council agendas, meeting minutes, and local votes took more time than I could give. I was digging through long PDFs and trying to decipher long municipal codes just to understand simple updates. I heard similar things from people I talked to. We all felt that staying informed was important, but the time commitment was just too overwhelming for our busy schedules.

We realized the problem was not a lack of information. The problem was delivery.

The "What": Building The Common News

That frustration turned into a mission. I wanted to create a way to follow city government in minutes, not hours.

We built The Common News.

Our goal was to take the dense, complicated information from local city council meetings and put it all in one place. We focused on three core things that we felt were missing from the traditional local news experience:

  1. Plain Language Recaps: We summarize agendas and votes without the jargon. We focus strictly on the impact these decisions have on residents, students, and small businesses.
  2. Instant Alerts: Instead of waiting for a monthly newsletter, our users get notified before key meetings and hearings happen.
  3. Consolidated Access: Whether you care about Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Fort Worth, New York City, or San Francisco, you can follow multiple municipalities in a single feed.

Who We Are

I did not build this alone. The Common News is a team effort driven by friends who bring different strengths to the table.

  • Jack Lahner (Co-founder): A recent graduate from UIUC in Marketing and Information Systems. Jack is focused on bridging the gap between complex data and public access, ensuring our platform reaches the people who need it most.
  • Nikesh Patel (Co-founder): Nikesh brings a background in local government strategy and supply chain. His experience working inside the system helped us understand exactly what the public was missing and how to make government data truly digestible.

The Philosophy

We are building this for the 70% of young adults who rely on social media for news but still feel unsatisfied with local political coverage. We are building this for the small business owners who need to know about zoning changes but do not have hours to sit in a city hall meeting.

In the age of AI, we believe you should not have to be a policy expert to be an informed citizen. You just need the right tool.

What's Next?

We are currently live with coverage in major cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Fort Worth, New York City, and San Francisco, with new cities being added monthly.

This is just the beginning. We are working hard to expand our coverage and continue making local government transparent and accessible.

If you have ever felt out of the loop in your own city, I invite you to try it out.

Connect With Us

Let's make staying informed the common standard.