The results were spectacular. We won awards for our reporting and recognition for our pioneering efforts. We sent reporters to Alaska, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. We graced numerous TV shows and were cited by every leading newspaper in the country. Most important, our reporting made a difference, whether by bringing flawed legislation and programs to the attention of people in power or by bringing critical overlooked issues to the attention of a broader public.

But TWI was not just a journalistic experiment; it was also a financial one, and ultimately, the successes of the former couldn’t sustain the strains of the latter. Our first year was marked by a kind of exceptionalism, the feeling that we were expanding as other newsrooms were contracting, that this new model of journalism would survive as our dead-tree colleagues struggled. But in the end, we fell prey to the recession just like everyone else.

TWI has always relied on donations, primarily from foundations seeking to promote journalism in the public interest. Those donations began drying up long ago. I’m grateful to the American Independent News Network for keeping TWI alive long past the point when its expenses began exceeding its receipts. But it wasn’t sustainable, and today the bosses informed us they’re pulling the plug. On Dec. 1, TWI will begin mirroring the content of our network’s other national site, The American Independent. TWI’s reporters and I will look elsewhere for work.

I have seen a great many changes in my more than two years at TWI. I’ve worked under three inspiring editors with three very different styles — Allison Silver, Laura McGann and Mary Kane — before being given the privilege to lead the team myself in July. But through it all, there’s been a deep conviction that good, solid reporting is more important than capitalizing on the latest scandal to drive traffic. I’ve had the tremendous honor of working with some of the best young reporters in the country: Spencer Ackerman, whose tenacity as a national security reporter is completely unrivaled; Dave Weigel, who defined the modern conservative movement and understood it like no one else; Mike Lillis, whose tireless coverage of Congress was underscored by a desire to root out stories of injustice; Annie Lowrey, who showed us that an economy reporter is more valuable when writing about the underprivileged than when covering Wall Street; and many more. It’s no surprise that these TWI alums are all making waves at top national publications.

But I’ll miss the current TWI team most of all. We’ve only been together a few months, and it feels like we were just getting started. Andrew Restuccia is a scoop machine on the environmental beat, but he grounds his coverage in the news that truly matters, sexy or not. Jesse Zwick is a masterful storyteller who has managed to distill an enormously broad beat into important and meaningful narratives. And Elise Foley has quickly transformed herself into one of the best immigration reporters in the country, and in the process, she’s proved just how critical and undercovered a topic immigration is. (Note to any editors out there: You’re in luck — these guys are now employable. Don’t pass up this tremendous opportunity.)

Finally, let me thank our readers around the world. Together, you have come to our site nearly 20 million times since January 2008, and for that we’re eternally grateful. We hope we’ve given you something valuable over the years. Please continue to read our reporters’ work, whoever ends up publishing it. It’ll be worth your while.

The crisis in the world of journalism today isn’t really about journalism — it’s about the bottom line. Reporters and editors everywhere are trying to find a way to keep their very good work alive. We thought our model had a chance. It put up a good fight.

Now it’s time to say goodbye.

Currently, only three states — Utah, New Mexico and Washington — allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driving privileges. According to immigrant advocates, it’s a question of public safety: Since so many of them will find a way to drive regardless, everyone’s better off if they’re properly licensed, have taken the requisite driving tests and are unafraid to cooperate with the police.

But now, all three of those states are considering measures that could restrict undocumented immigrants’ ability to drive or revoke it outright. And the proposals have pretty broad popular support. Elise Foley has the story.

See you Monday.

A big part of the answer has to do with trust. The process of drafting the DISCLOSE Act alienated Republicans from the start. The bill was drawn up by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) — two men best known for their efforts to get Democrats elected to Congress. The whole thing smacked of partisan gamesmanship. Then Democrats loaded up the bill with provisions that Republicans regarded as irrelevant, little more than Democratic pet issues. Although Democrats say they reached out to Republicans for input, GOP offices soon stopped responding to emails from Democratic staffers. Whatever trust had existed initially was entirely wiped out.

And now? If a stripped-down DISCLOSE Act has any chance of passing, it has to be right now, in the lame-duck session. Some Democrats still hope that by limiting the bill to its popular core, they can win Republican support. But relations between the congressional offices on the issue are so frayed that it’s hard to imagine much cooperation at this point.

Jesse Zwick has the full story of the DISCLOSE Act’s troubled history, and its prospects for passage in the lame-duck session.

There’s much more to come. Stay tuned for TWI’s reports and analysis, including breakdowns of the night’s significance for energy and immigration policy, as well as other areas.

Until they did. Suddenly, advocates of tight immigration enforcement are up in arms, claiming that the measure to protect the environment of this mountainous terrain would hinder Border Patrol and allow a new flood of immigrants to enter New Mexico. And an increase in activity by immigrants and cartels, in turn, could actually end up hurting the environment, they argue.

But environmental groups say this argument is just a political ploy to clamp down on immigration. It’s a complicated debate, with no clear answers. The full Senate will be considering the bill sometime after it reconvenes, and much is up in the air. Elise Foley has the full story.

According to the representatives crafting the legislation, that’s exactly the point:

“If that bill passes, we will be sued immediately. That’s the purpose of the bill,” said Texas state Rep. Leo Berman. “The ACLU, La Raza, the Justice Department — someone will sue us for the bill.”

The next step in his desired outcome is a legal victory. “That lawsuit will go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where some judge is going to read the background and say there are no Supreme Court rulings affirming the 14th Amendment’s current interpretation,” he said.

Elise Foley has the story.