[carapace]

Folks seem to be covering the basics. I would add, take time to think about why you want to "gather information"? What I mean is, most news is not actionable, or even if it is, you're not going to act on it. (When was the last time you contacted your representatives in re: some issue?) If you can't or won't act on a piece of news, do you really need to know it?

Figure out what you really want and need to know first, then look around for the (typically small and chronically underfunded) groups who are tracking and affecting those issues and values.