Penne Usher is the Editor for the Mountain Democrat newspaper. Penne joined the Democrat last year and hit the ground running. Her focus is community journalism. She enjoys telling stories that focus on the community.

Penne's rich background in journalism includes the Albuquerque Journal and several community newspapers. She graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in Journalism with a minor in Criminal Justice. Her focus is "bringing more people, more photos, more personality profiles, more focus on the community and shorter stories."

Besides the Mountain Democrat, the company publishes the Georgetown Gazette and many magazines targeted for specific audiences. The Mountain Democrat is designed to print local news and to reflect the local community and its views. Besides the news, it features local interest articles such as one about a man who races “jalopies” and another who manufactures bows and arrows.

 
The Mountain Democrat is published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with breaking news available on the website. It has about 9000 weekly subscribers, a number that has been about the same for years.  About 60% of its print subscribers are 55 and older, while about 60% of its on-line readers are younger than 55.
 
Penne reads all the letters that people to write to the editor and selects the ones to be printed in the paper. She urged us to keep the letters short, as long ones won’t get published.