Launching Chelsea Update

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In her thirty-two years as a journalist, Lisa Allmendinger reckons she's "done it all. I started in sports, was the editorial page editor and then the news editor, and oversaw a newsroom for twenty-five to thirty people." Since Allmendinger moved to Sylvan Township in 1989, she's covered western Washtenaw County for the Heritage chain's Chelsea Standard, the Ann Arbor News, the Ann Arbor Journal, and most recently AnnArbor.com.

"A year ago I decided I was gonna do what Mary Morgan did with the Ann Arbor Chronicle and start my own news site," says the amazingly energetic reporter and photographer. "I was fifty-four, and the time was now. I originally planned to launch January 2013, but I got too excited and the launch date started jumping back, first to September when school starts, then Fair Week, then finally July 23--the three-year anniversary of the closing of the Ann Arbor News."

Allmendinger says she started ChelseaUpdate.com because "it's always been a pipe dream of mine to own a weekly newspaper in a small town. I always wanted to be Jessica Fletcher [heroine of TV show Murder, She Wrote], the little old lady who knows everybody in town. And I can't think of any place better than Chelsea. I've been living here thirteen years, and I've got a soft spot in my heart for this community. I want to showcase the people of Chelsea from birth to death, from kids in schools, to sports, businesses coming and going, to politics, and news features. Nothing is off limits. If someone suggests a story, I'll do it."