Hope arrived in the form of a caravan winding its way down the dirt road to Marie Hamilton’s home out on the eastern Wyoming prairie where her family’s ranching and farming roots run generations deep. Spotting the unusual amount of traffic from the washroom, the Platte County Record-Times managing editor and reporter went out to the patio.

“I’m confused,” she said, seeing community members and neighbors gathered at her door. The day before Hamilton had suddenly lost her “dream job” reporting on her hometown of Chugwater.

But the mood on the porch didn’t match that news.

“They all have these weird, funny faces,” she recalled, and appeared “super excited.”

Asking to remain anonymous, they told her that they trusted their local newspapers, so they were collecting donations to make sure Ha

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