The South County Star focuses on covering communities throughout southern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut. Nancy Burns-Fusaro, sometimes referred to as the “dean” of the Westerly shoreline, will focus much of her reporting on the arts and lifestyle, which she said are flourishing in South County.

“I’m writing about my wonderful community and wonderful people and, as you can imagine, the diversity in Westerly is just terrific,” Burns-Fusaro said.

Alex Nunes, the nonprofit’s founder and publisher, has covered different parts of the state over the years. He said the idea behind the Star is to expand coverage in a part of the state that receives less attention than the Providence metro area.

“If something happens in Providence, or happens at the State House, there’s a lot of people there to cover it, and people do a really good job,” he said. “But if something happens down in Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton, you really have to have dedicated people who are going to be looking to do those stories — and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Later in the show, Dan and Eli discussed the “stories we wish we wrote,” including (not all mentioned on air):

• In R.I., Senate power becomes a primary focus as candidates declare by Ed Fitzpatrick, The Boston Globe
• After seven years, Providence has its schools back — and all of the same institutional problems too by Julia Steiny, Rhode Island Current

• The good pirates of the South Coast by Eleonora Bianchi, The New Bedford Light
• Providence couple say they were evicted after their children were lead poisoned by Wheeler Cowperthwaite, The Providence Journal

“Behind the Story” is hosted by Eli Sherman, Kim Kalunian and Dan McGowan.