Thanks for continuing to bring this unending issue to light.  Due to the corruptibility and selfish nature of most of humanity it will likely never end, let alone subside to any level that people will be accepting of. I remember as a child witnessing the Iran contra situation,  then as a teen the preposterous drawn out circus that was the Clinton-Lewinsky "affair" that culminated with WJC stating “It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".  These events, and the opinions and warnings of my elders showed me that government is corrupt by nature.  It often seems that when ever a "big controversy" is being placed front and center, something else more important is going on in the background. The so-called "citizens united" (interesting how things are often named completely the opposite of what they actually are) ruling sealed the deal in taking power away from the common citizenry.  Since then our political system has been entirely consumed by the corporate dollar of influence.  Even before this, most in positions of power had shown by action rather than word, that the power of the lobbyist dollar is more powerful than any voice of the people.  Aside from these factors, and now with the ability to influence citizens with powerful, curated, and targeted social media manipulation you actually have folks defending, embracing, and encouraging corruption. It is worth mentioning that the former democratic speaker of the house is obviously using her access to privileged information for what is in effect insider trading.  It is no wonder that trust is essentially non-existent with this atmosphere. Regarding local entities, it seems that most involved are also influenced financially in obvious conflicts of personal interest against the good of the communities they are supposedly serving.  If not directly for their own gain, there is usually a friend or relative close by that is benefiting significantly.  I can't remember the specifics, you recently reported on a local official retiring.  His statement was something along the lines of "I have seen no corruption".  I could not help but laugh, this reminded me of when a child runs into the room and blurts out of nowhere "it wasn't me" or "I didn't do it"  without any known context or knowledge of any wrongdoing.  Perhaps he was entirely honest, it sure did not read that way considering the environment. What can be done then?  I think what you do is an essential aspect of basic awareness of things locally.  Local media is obviously becoming more rare in most communities, allowing the capacity of curated algorithms to supersede actual information and knowledge.  I believe everyday folks owe it to themselves to do the hard work of attempting to really listen to both sides of a situation, and seek out information that challenges what makes them feel comfortable.  Fight the confirmation bias tendencies, and actually think things out for themselves.  The people still technically have the power to vote, but they also need to take the power of their own capacity in hand and remove the chains from their minds.