Since we had to send the Jan. 1 print edition to the press a bit early last week due to the midweek holiday, this edition truly feels like the first paper of 2026.
So let me officially wish all of you loyal readers a Happy New Year.
It’s a good time to discuss our resolutions. On that note, in order to get my financial house in order this year, I’m committing to some entrepreneurship. I’m looking for investors to help with a business idea I hope to open in late December 2026.
We’re going to open a gym right around Jan. 1.
About Feb. 10, it will turn into a bar.
We’ll call it Resolutions. Thank you, thank you. Tip your freelancers and try the features. I’ll be here all year.
And yes, we’re still here to ring in another year. It’s a trying time for newspapers, in a world increasingly shaped by global headlines and social media noise. Everybody has (and gets) their say, and while I always want to know when I’ve screwed something up, because I’d rather be injured than wrong, people in general keep reminding me that you can satisfy some of the people, some of the time.
For instance: we took some heat for our coverage of an armed standoff with police in early December. Osceola County Sheriff’s deputies worked to get a man who was a suspect in a battery the day before to leave the apartment he’d barricaded himself in. He was broadcasting live that he had a gun and pointed at himself much of the time. He eventually left the unit but kept the weapon to his head. Hours later he fired the weapon, Sheriff’s deputies fire theirs, and the man died via gunshot wounds.
In covering the incident, we published a couple still frames, with him armed, from his live social media. For that we got blasted for “doing it for the hits and clicks”, and one social media commenter accused us of being the “Only media outlet that would show this.”
I feel like our coverage of the incident was an accurate representation of what started it—and ended it. As for the “only media outlet” comment, at least one local television news station ran 4-5 seconds of the live on its 11 p.m. news—I watched it—and outlets in other markets picked up the story.
One of my most important jobs as editor of a community newspaper is to empower its residents with the information they need to make important daily decisions. And, in 2026, residents will have some pretty big decisions to make—at the polls.
This year features an extremely important election cycle that you’ll be hearing more about that in the coming weeks. The News Collaborative of Central Florida, in which the News-Gazette participates, will be highlighting the election as its “topic of focus” for the first six months of 2026. Much like we jointly wrote and shared stories on the ban on homeless camping in public areas in 2025, we’ll be previewing the election as a group, from making sure all residents know how to get registered to vote, when and how to do it, to profiling candidates for local races as they get qualified for the election.
Locally, turnout for both the August primary and November general election in years without a presidential has historically been, frankly, embarrassingly low. I understand many residents come from Hispanicspeaking countries or places that strictly vote one time every four years. It’s my hope that by putting this year’s election on the front burner we can change the narrative and encourage more people to vote, and have a say in who makes the policy that shapes the lives of those who live and work in Osceola County.
Because of a resignation in December, an extra School Board seat will be up for grabs in 2026. Voters will elect four of the five members—that’s 80% of the people who vote on School District policies and actions.
Additionally, two seats, or 40%, on the Kissimmee and St. Cloud city commissions and Osceola County commission will be voted on this year. There’s a likelihood of a special election for the Sheriff—should suspended Sheriff Marcos Lopez’s criminal racketeering case be settled in 2026—and there’s one for the U.S. Senate seat current held by nominee Ashley Moody after Marco Rubio was tabbed to be President Trump’s Secretary of State. And we’ll again vote for our members of the state and U.S. House of Representatives.
We’ll bring you all the important facts regarding this all-important upcoming election. That’s our resolve. All we ask is that you make the resolution to cast informed votes, both on Aug. 18 and Nov. 3.
Just think, after you’re done, you’ll be so energized that maybe you’ll want to hit the gym. Or the bar.
Ken Jackson has been a News-Gazette sports writer, senior staff reporter, sports editor and its editor-in-chief since 2021. He’ll be covering his sixth election in 2026.
