Yes, I can get news online, for the Portland metro area. Without cell reception, there is no texting. I don't even get a sound to notify me that someone has sent a text...until I go at least a half mile from home. There are also lots of dead spots in this small town, the most "interesting" being that there is zero cell phone reception anywhere in City Hall. <g>

When we first moved here full time (after over 50 years of living here 3-4 days every week), I really missed the Portland paper, which is the largest in the state. I replaced that by watching news on TV, although it was always about the Portland metro area two hours NE. We don't even have a real local radio station here as it's part of a network and broadcasts the same news everywhere. Our local weekly paper is a really bad joke, as is its website. Both of us are editors, so reading even a photo caption in the local paper makes us groan. The language is going to hell in a handcart, and quickly.