Here are a few ideas for CAR stories and for getting data without having much money or time: Demographics data are cheap. The key is, of course: www.census.gov. We have used the IRS county-to-county migration databases (about $10 a state) and a variety of small-area population estimates from the Census and Minnesota's State Demographer. Putting big charts of school tests scores in your newspaper can make you look lawfully smart to your editor and your readers.
If your state is like Minnesota, there will be a lot of demographic information in the databases about each school. Employee salaries are handy to have, even if it's just for the inevitable standoff just before the strike by a public employees' union. It's better just to get the data each year, rather than make last-minute requests. You can make your newspaper the expert on the local economy. We have used employment data, house sales data (work with real estate agents), car sales (work with your advertising department), spending data and other readily available economic indicators to write a report on the regional economy.
Finally, this is how we cheat. We get national data from a central Knight Ridder purchasing pool, and a lot of Minnesota data from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. If I weren't in that network, I would find a non-competing newspaper with similar interests and try to set up a similar bartering arrangement - especially for databases that are used more on a regular, look-up basis.