What local news articles could look like if news websites were not so horrible

Mostly because they're all desperately trying to figure out how to stay in business. The local paper I used to work for in the '06ish era had a pretty large presence downtown in their own dedicated building that had been around since at least the 60s. That location employed around 150-200ish people for all functions - maintenance, ad sales, IT, HR, management, reporters, photographers, copyeditors, designers, etc.

They had a second location on the edge of town for the presses - we ran two presses and that employed another 60-80 people.

They now rent half of the third floor of an office building, and friends say that feels too big. They employ a total of about two dozen people now. Everything that can be outsourced - including printing, copyediting, and design - has been.

Local news is in very, very bad shape right now.