Our Newspapers and Websites

Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA is dedicated to community journalism. Its newspapers and websites in Arizona, Delaware, Florida and Maryland are published for, of and by the people. Independent's news publications are dedicated to community journalism, with a unique blend of issue-oriented stories, reader submissions and "refrigerator" news and photos.

Arizona

  • Daily Independent – Arizona's nonpartisan newspaper that publishes daily on YourValley.net. A print edition is delivered six days a week in Sun City, Sun City West, Surprise, North Glendale, North Peoria, El Mirage and Youngtown. A digital replica of the print edition can be read 24/7 at YourValley.net.
  • Anthem Independent – Features the exclusive suburb community north of Phoenix. News about the country club community of Anthem is posted daily at YourValley.net.
  • Apache Junction Independent – The longest publishing newspaper in the City of Apache Junction. The Apache Junction/Gold Canyon Independent publishes daily at YourValley.net with the latest Pinal County news. A print edition is published monthly circulating to all of Apache Junction and Gold Canyon.
  • Buckeye Independent – Serves the largest planning mass area and the fastest growing city in Arizona. News about the westernmost suburb of Phoenix is posted daily at YourValley.net.
  • Estrella Independent – The newest print publication in the Arizona newspaper group that circulates monthly in the community of Estrella in the City of Goodyear. News about the community of Estrella and the City of Goodyear is posted daily at YourValley.net.
  • Florence Independent – Features one of the oldest towns in Arizona. News about the growing town the embraces the future while preserving its past is posted daily at YourValley.net.
  • Glendale Independent – Serves the largest city west of Phoenix with daily breaking and community news at YourValley.net. A print edition is published monthly.
  • Litchfield Park Independent – Covers the smallest city west of Phoenix with a total market monthly print circulation exclusively for the residents of the City of Litchfield Park. Daily breaking and community news can be found at YourValley.net.
  • Mesa Independent – Features daily breaking, business and entertainment news at YourValley.net for Arizona's third largest city east of Phoenix.
  • Northwest Homes – Gives readers the opportunity to read the latest real estate news of the Valley of the Sun. A print edition is published weekly covering the northwest area of Phoenix while breaking Arizona real estate news can be found at YourValley.net.
  • Peoria Independent – Reports on one of the fastest growing cities west of Phoenix with daily breaking and community news at YourValley.net. A print edition is published bi-monthly.
  • Phoenix Independent – Phoenix's nonpartisan newspaper that publishes daily at YourValley.net.
  • Paradise Valley Independent – The only weekly newspaper published exclusively for the Town of Paradise Valley. Daily breaking and community news can be found at YourValley.net.
  • Queen Creek Independent – Covers the daily news and happenings in the growing Town of Queen Creek at YourValley.net. A print edition is published monthly circulating to the entire Town of Queen Creek.
  • Scottsdale Independent – Reports on the latest breaking news and community debate in the City of Scottsdale at YourValley.net. A print edition is published monthly circulating to more than half of the world renowned city that is northeast of Phoenix.
  • Sun City Independent – The longest publishing weekly newspaper in the first retirement community in the world. The Sun City Independent publishes daily at YourValley.net with the latest community news and debate. A print edition is published weekly delivering to all of Sun City.
  • Sun City West Independent – The only weekly newspaper published exclusively for Sun City West. Daily breaking and community news can be found at YourValley.net.
  • Sun Life Magazine – Covers quality of life stories for those enjoying an active adult lifestyle. Featured news can be found at YourValley.net. A print edition is published monthly circulating in age-restricted gated communities throughout the West Valley.
  • Surprise Independent – Reports on the latest breaking news and community debate in the City of Surprise at YourValley.net. A print edition is published weekly circulating to more than half of the city that is northwest of Phoenix.

Delaware

Florida

  • Lake Okeechobee News – Publishes three times a week. The Wednesday edition circulation goes all around Lake Okeechobee, including the communities of Okeechobee, Buckhead Ridge, Lakeport More Haven, Clewiston, South Bay, Pahokee, Belle Glade and Canal Point. The circulation of the Friday and Sunday editions is only on the north side of the lake, including the communities of Okeechobee, Buckhead Ridge and Lakeport. Website at lakeokeechobeenews.com
  • Caloosa Belle – Published weekly on Thursdays in LaBelle, the seat of Hendry County. Website at caloosabelle.com
  • Immokalee Bulletin – A free Thursday publication, with circulation in Immokalee and rural Collier County. Website at immokaleebulletin.com

Maryland

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To find out more about advertising in our newspapers or our websites, visit one of our media kits.

We do not knowingly accept advertising for illegal products or services or advertising that discriminates on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status or disability. We defend the right to advertise legal products and services, however controversial they may be, while reserving our right to revise or reject any specific advertisement. Advertisers have a right to express their opinions. We do not vouch for the accuracy of advertisements, and we urge readers to use their own good judgment about each advertisement.

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Subscriptions

Customer Service

  • Delaware, Florida and Maryland: Email readerservices@newszap.com or call 302-741-8298 (Delaware) or 800-282-8586 (Florida and Maryland). Customer service hours are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday, 6 a.m. - 9 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. - 10 a.m. Sunday.
  • Arizona: Email azdelivery@newszap.com or call 623-972-6101.

Account Access

To subscribe to a newspaper or e-edition, or manage your existing subscription, please log into our self-service portal where you can pay bills, report delivery issues, or set up vacation stops.

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Printing Companies

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Join our teams

    Employment application

    INI strives to attract team members who are enthused about our mission, who share our values, and who want to be judged by the quality of their work and their contribution to the company's success, without regard to their race, color, gender or other extraneous factors.

    INIers uphold the highest ethical standards, treat every other individual with courtesy, and are team players, team-builders and consensus-seekers.

    We strive for leadership, not for supervision. People in leadership positions challenge and coach their associates. They are expected to help each of us become all we can be and to help the company become all it can be. Our leaders make direction-changing decisions, but consult and seek consensus to the fullest practical extent. They try to share the leadership with everyone who has shown he or she has something to contribute

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Our Vision and Values

  • Contribution: By fulfilling our mission and living our values, we will elevate the level of citizenship in our communities.
  • Excellence: We will excel because our people share our values and are committed to achieving excellence for themselves and for the organization.
  • Vitality: We will maintain our basic values and purposes, while continuously changing everything else to meet changing needs.
  • Stability: We will manage conservatively to ensure the company's continuity and preserve its independence.
  • Growth: We will expand when our existing operations are sound and when the expansion makes sense for us and for the communities we serve.
  • Mission: We provide community websites and purposeful newspapers that encourage and support meaningful community involvement, so citizens can make sensible decisions about public issues.
  • Service: We operate each of our websites and newspapers as a public trust, in the public interest. We believe that our dedication to conscientious journalism and free speech with civility is the best way we can help each of our communities become a better place to live and work.
  • Ethics: We are committed to upholding high ethical standards in all of our dealings. We attempt to treat every individual (inside the company and outside) with courtesy and respect.
  • Strength: While our mission is our driving force, we recognize that we must earn sufficient profits to ensure the company's continuity, independence and growth.

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Our History

During U.S. Army service during World War II, Jack Smyth made the decision that he wanted a more meaningful career than working in the family jewelry store in Renovo, a poor railroad town in the Bucktail Mountains in north central Pennsylvania. Although he had no training or experience in the field, he decided that he would become a journalist after the war, due to his belief that newspapers played such an important role in a free society.

After his discharge from the Army, Jack purchased his hometown newspaper, the four-page Renovo Record. He learned the business by doing it. In 1952 he sold his hometown paper in order to purchase the Delaware State News in Dover, DE, then a weekly. He envisioned a five-day daily newspaper serving the state capital, which was launched on Sept. 14, 1953.

In 1969, Jack began having health problems and moved to Arizona. He sold the Delaware State News to his four children (including Joe, who was then the 26-year-old managing editor). Jack Smyth passed away in 1996 at the age of 80. His autobiography, "From Diamonds to Deadlines," is available from Independent's Company Library.

Joe Smyth bought his siblings' stock in the early 1970s and changed the corporate name to Independent Newspapers, Inc. when the company started to expand beyond Delaware. (The name was changed to Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA in 2011.)

Joe wanted to ensure that the company would remain independent and dedicated to the practice of journalism as a public trust, with a commitment to citizen participation, free speech and independent journalism. After years of pursuing this vision, the IRS issued a private ruling in 1991 that allowed him to transfer 100% ownership to a new non-profit holding company.

The company now publishes community newspapers and other print and digital publications in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Its web offset printing plants in Arizona and Delaware also provide printing and related services to scores of other publishers in the Southwest and Mid Atlantic.

INI is a normal for-profit company that pays taxes the same as any other for-profit. It does not pay dividends to any individuals or groups, however, since it is 100% owned by INI Holdings, Inc., a non-profit membership corporation.

The five non-profit trustees serve staggered five-year terms, with a new trustee being elected each year. (Trustees must leave at the end of their five-year term, although they can later be elected to additional non-consecutive terms.)

They pledge to uphold the corporation's articles and bylaws, to act as guardians of its purposes, and to perpetuate the tradition of allowing all after-tax profits to be reinvested in pursuit of the operating company's journalistic mission. Other than receiving a modest honorarium for attending the annual meeting, they pledge to not benefit personally.

Trustees of the non-profit INI Holdings, in addition to those currently serving, have included Ben Bagdikian, former dean of Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and author of “The Media Monopoly”; Andy Barnes, former chairman and CEO of the St. Petersburg Times and Poynter Institute; the late Tony Biggs, retired publisher of the Elkhart Truth; Jim Binns, a lawyer, business leader and community activist; Bill Bishop, a journalist and former small-town publisher, author of 2009’s The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, and co-editor of The Daily Yonder, a webzine about rural America; Jody Brannon, a digital journalism pioneer, consultant and educator; Joann Byrd, former editorial-page editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Billy Crews, civic leader and former CEO and publisher of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo; Gary Edens, owner of The Hanover Companies, Inc. in Phoenix and former chair & CEO Edens Broadcasting; Pete Eyerly, former publisher of the Bloomsburg (Pa.) Press Enterprise; Frank Denton, editor of the Tampa Tribune, former editor of the Wisconsin State Journal; futurist Katherine Fulton, president of the Monitor Institute; Mary Lou Fulton, former new media director for The Bakersfield Californian; Dick Gottlieb, former CEO of Lee Enterprises; Ginger Moorhouse, publisher and chairman of The Bakersfield Californian; the late Ted Natt, former publisher of the (Longview, Wash.) Daily News; Jerry Oliver, former chief of police in Louisville and Detroit; the late Jack Pfister, former general manager of Salt River Project in Arizona; Jan Schaffer, the founder and executive director of J-Lab, The Institute for Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland; Michael Schudson, professor of communication and adjunct professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego; Tom Shaw, president and CEO of Chicago-area Shaw Newspapers; and Karny Stefan, the Chief Development Officer of Make-A-Wish® Arizona, the founding chapter of Make-A-Wish® (the international wish granting

More information about the company and its people can be found in the company’s employee newsletter at http://inipresslines.blogspot.com.

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Privacy and Terms

This is the Privacy Policy for the web sites owned or operated by Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA (INI). We respect your privacy and appreciate the confidence you have placed in us. We are committed to protecting your privacy and preserving your trust. Please carefully review this Privacy Policy to learn about how we collect, use, and protect any personal information you provide us and your choices for managing your personal information. This Privacy Policy is subject to the User Agreement posted on the Site.

Managing Information Preferences

We want to communicate with you only if you want to hear from us. If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or if you wish to exclude your personal information from our direct marketing purposes, please feel free to contact us at webmaster@newszap.com.

If you would like to correct, update, or change your personal information with us please contact us the same way.

What Types Of Information Do We Collect?

We collect information that may personally identify you (such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, billing information, or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information) only if you choose to share such information with us. For example, we may collect personal information from you when you register on the Site, subscribe to one of our services, enter sweepstakes, contests or other promotions, and at other times. We also collect credit card information in connection with any purchase you make on or through the Site. The decision to provide this information is optional; however, if you decide not to register or provide such information, you may not be able to use certain features of the Site or other services.

We may automatically collect non-personal information that does not identify an individual user, such as IP (internet protocol) address, ISP (internet service provider), the Web browser used to visit the Site, the time the Site is visited, which Web pages were visited on the Site, a unique mobile device identifier (in connection with the use of the Sites or related services from mobile devices) and other anonymous Site usage data.

We also use cookies (a small file containing a string of characters that uniquely identifies your Web browser). We use cookies to improve the quality of the Site. Most Web browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your Web browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, certain features of the Site may not work if you delete or disable cookies. Certain of our Service Providers (defined below) may use cookies and Web beacons in connection with the services they perform on our behalf, including, without limitation, ad serving.

How Do We Use The Information We Collect?

We will not sell, share, or rent personal information to third parties, and we will not otherwise disclose personal information to third parties, without your permission, except as disclosed in this Privacy Policy.

We use personal information and non-personal information for internal purposes, including:

  • enhancing your experience at the Site;
  • performing administration and technical support for the Site;
  • enabling you to enter sweepstakes, contests and other promotions;
  • enabling you to use certain services and features available on or through the Site;
  • creating aggregate information about demographics and usage patterns;
  • inviting our promotional vendors and advertisers—with your permission—to call to your attention special offers, products and services that may be of interest to you; and
  • enabling purchases of goods and services.

We may use aggregate information to measure general Site usage patterns and characteristics of our user base, and we may include such aggregate information about our audience in reports to our commercial vendors. We may also disclose aggregated user statistics (for example, a certain percentage of our users live in a certain area) without your permission in order to describe our audience to existing and prospective advertisers or other third parties. However, this aggregate information does not reference names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, or other personal information, and it is not traceable to a specific recipient or user e-mail address.

We also may share personal information with entities controlled by Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA.

From time to time, we might establish a business relationship with other persons or entities whom we believe trustworthy and whom we have asked to confirm that their privacy practices are consistent with ours (“Service Providers”). For example, we may contract with Service Providers to provide certain services including credit card processing, advertising, promotions, analytics tools, data management, Web hosting, and Web development. We provide our Service Providers with the information needed for them to perform these services. Each Service Provider must agree to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of your information in order to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure.

We may work with third-party advertising companies which may use information about your visit to the Site in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you on the Site and on third-party Web sites. From the Site, these companies may place or recognize a unique cookie on your computer or use other technologies such as Web beacons or pixel tags. Our Privacy Policy does not cover any use of information that a third-party advertisement serving company may collect from you. For more information about ad cookies and companies that provide users the ability to “opt-out” of the collection of information from such cookies, please click here.

Although unlikely, in certain instances we may disclose your personal information when we have reason to believe it is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against persons or entities who may be causing injury to you, to Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA or its affiliates, or to others. We may also disclose your personal information when we believe the law or legal process requires such disclosure. Please note that courts of equity, such as U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, may have the authority under certain circumstances to permit your personal information to be shared or transferred to third parties without your permission.

Security

We use encryption and authentication tools to protect the security of personal information that you share with us. However, no data transmission over the Internet (or, with respect to our mobile services, over cellular phone networks) can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect personal information, we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant the security of any information you transmit to or from the Site, and you do so at your own risk.

Links To Third-Party Web Sites

The Site may contain links to Web sites operated and maintained by third parties, over which we have no control. Privacy policies on such linked Web sites may be different from our Privacy Policy. You access such linked Web sites at your own risk. You should always read the privacy policy of a linked Web site before disclosing any personal information on such site.

Discussion Board, Forums and Other User Generated Content

Our online chat areas, bulletin boards, social networks, mobile messaging services, other public forums and user-generated content (i.e., photos, videos) can be a useful way for you to express yourself to other online users. When you post messages or otherwise use these features, the information that you provide (including personal information) may be publicly available to, collected by, and used by third parties. We are not responsible for the content of such messages or images posted by users or such disclosures of personal information.

Children’s Privacy Statement

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received personal information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete such information from our records.

Children should always get permission from their parents before sending any information about themselves (such as their names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers) over the Internet, to us or to anyone else. We won’t knowingly allow anyone under 13 to register with us or to provide any other personal information. If you’re under 13, please do not provide us with any personal information about yourself (such as your name, your e-mail address or your phone number).

We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn or more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising for some companies, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org and http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

Policy Changes

If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, in whole or in part, we will inform you by posting the changed Privacy Policy on the Site. Your continued use of the Site constitutes your agreement to abide by the Privacy Policy as changed. If you object to any such changes, your sole recourse shall be to cease using the Site.

Effective Date: 4/1/2017

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