Some of you may be familiar with ***Topix|http://www.topix.net/***, either through ***Bloglines|http://www.bloglines.com/*** or otherwise. If you’re not, you should check it out. Simply go to ***this page|http://www.topix.net/city/list*** and enter a city, state, zip, or click on the map to find a locality. Topix uses some pretty cool proprietary technology to automatically track and collect news items for any given locality, pulling in data from area news sources, government sites, etc. In Boston, for example, you’d get local news from the Boston Herald, Boston Globe and news releases from CityofBoston.gov. In Beverly, we get news from the Beverly Citizen, Lynn Daily Item, Gloucester Times, Salem News, etc. You can sign up to get email alerts for your chosen city, and you can even subscribe to an RSS feed. I use the RSS feed with my Bloglines newsreader to get news updates for Townsend, Beverly, Oak Bluffs, and Mount Vernon.

Check it out!