Privacy
This page explains what The Branch stores for public reading, aggregate article analytics, optional subscribers, and alerts.
The Branch counts article page views in daily totals so volunteer editors can understand which civic reporting is being read. The count is not connected to a subscriber, email address, street address, cookie, IP address, device identifier, referrer, or query string. The Branch stores only the article, Central Time date, and total number of views. Browser Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track signals prevent the view request.
You do not need an account to read The Branch. The Branch does not require a saved street address to read stories, browse the calendar, or use government profiles.
The Branch uses the email address you enter on the subscriber page to keep your saved preferences and private notification inbox together. There is no subscriber password or account sign-in. A verified management session on your device expires after 30 days.
The Branch stores the story topics, event categories, organizations, reminder timing, and delivery channels you select. New or changed choices remain pending until you use the single-use email link. Verification links expire after 30 minutes, and expired verification requests are removed through routine site maintenance.
If you enable browser alerts, The Branch stores the encrypted push subscription supplied by that browser. It is used only to deliver the alerts you selected. The Branch removes subscriptions that the browser reports as expired.
The Branch does not use subscriber identity, alert preferences, street addresses, or article-view totals to choose advertisements. Advertising is selected only from the context of the page.
After verifying your email, you can pause, resume, unsubscribe, or permanently delete subscriber data on the subscriber page. Unsubscribing removes saved choices, inbox items, queued alerts, browser subscriptions, and management access. Permanent deletion also removes the subscriber record.
Your control
Open the subscriber page to change notification choices or remove your subscriber data from The Branch. Corrections and privacy questions can also be submitted through the public corrections form.