The Giants of Local Journalism Are Not Being Replaced

Butte, Mont. — On April 3, 1996, the FBI descended on Lincoln, a small Montana town on the edge of a thickly forested mountain pass, to capture one of the country’s most sought-after terrorists. Federal agents arrested Ted Kaczynski, the troubled mathematician turned serial mail bomber, ending nearly 20 years of attacks that had injured 23 people and killed three. The Unabomber emerged from the woods in a wild beard and shock of dirty brown hair, and journalists from around the world swooped into the state. For local reporters, it was nearly impossible to get a scoop. National outlets had…