Who we are

Most of what shapes daily life here is decided in rooms almost nobody watches. A city council sets a budget. A school board approves a contract. A community services district raises a fee. These decisions are public, the documents are public, and almost no one reads them.

The Ledger exists to read them. We cover the City of Los Alamitos, the Los Alamitos Unified School District, and the Rossmoor Community Services District, along with the county and state offices that appear on local ballots.

What we publish

Every story carries a label describing what kind of work it is: news, analysis, explainer, opinion, or investigation. We think readers deserve to know which one they are reading before they start.

Ownership and funding

The Los Al Ledger is an independent publication owned and published by Benny Nottonson. It is a for-profit sole proprietorship, not a nonprofit, and it holds no 501(c)(3) status. Saying so plainly matters more to us than sounding institutional.

The Ledger currently has no advertisers, no sponsors, no grants, and no donors. It is funded by its publisher. If that changes, this page changes with it, and we will name any funder above $500 along with the amount.

A conflict you should know about. The publisher also operates incorporaterossmoor.com, a site that advocates for Rossmoor to incorporate as a city. That is advocacy, and it is a position. The Ledger is not an advocacy project, and coverage of Rossmoor cityhood is the place where that distinction is hardest to hold.

Our rules for handling it:

• Any Ledger story touching Rossmoor incorporation carries a disclosure of this relationship, in the story, not buried in a footer.
• We do not republish material from the advocacy site as Ledger reporting, and we do not use the Ledger to promote it.
• The two operations do not share a mailing list. Subscribing here does not subscribe you there.

If you think we have failed at this, say so. That is exactly the kind of complaint we want on the record.

How to reach us

Corrections, tips, and complaints all go to real people. See contact the newsroom, our editorial ethics policy, and our corrections log.