Effective Date: October 27, 2025

The LION Publishers website is published by Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc. (“LION Publishers,” “we,” “us,” and “our”) and contains material that is protected by international copyright, trademark, patent and other intellectual property laws. Unless otherwise expressly specified, use of LION Publishers and its related websites and services (hereinafter "the Site") is intended for your personal noncommercial use only.

You may not copy, modify, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, translate, sell, create derivative works, exploit, or distribute in any manner or medium in any way any content, including code and software, from the Site without express written consent. You may download and/or print material from the Site and may use the Site for your personal non-commercial use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. Your use of the website is subject to these Terms of Service and you agree to act in accordance with these Terms of Service.

You may use the social networking tools, widgets and/or links provided on the Site, including but not limited to links to Facebook, twitter and other websites, to create short excerpts and links related to content on the Site that may be displayed on other websites. You may not use such tools, widgets and/or links to create material that disparages, or alters the meaning or intent of, any content on the Site.

Using the Site in any manner for the purpose or with the intent of obtaining information, accessing the content therein, or otherwise, constitutes use of the Site such that the party accessing the Site is bound by these Terms of Service.

Because the Internet is a developing medium, we may need to change these Terms of Service or impose new conditions on use of the Site from time to time, in which case we will post the revised Terms of Service. By continuing to use the Site after we post any such changes, you accept the Terms of Service as modified.

Your use of the Site is also subject to our User Guidelines and Privacy Policy. By using the Site, you agree to be bound by them.

You may establish a hypertext link to the Site so long as the link does not state or imply any endorsement or sponsorship of any other site, organization, person or entity by LION Publishers, its affiliates, partners or related sites. However, you may not, without our prior written permission, frame or inline link any of the content of the Site, or incorporate into another website or other service any of our intellectual property, including but not limited to content, code, software and other material.

I. Intellectual property rights

By posting or submitting any content (including, without limitation, text, photos and videos, or any other intellectual property in any medium) to us via the Site or via other means, you are representing that you are the owner of the material, or are making your posting or submission with the express consent of the owner of the material; and that you are 13 years of age or older.

When you post or submit any content of any type you are granting us, and anyone authorized by us, a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, copy, modify, transmit, translate, sell, exploit, create derivative works from, distribute, and/or publicly perform or display such material, in whole or in part, in any manner or medium, now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose.

The foregoing grant of rights shall include the right to exploit any rights in such posting or submission, including, but not limited to, rights under copyright, trademark, service mark or patent laws under any relevant jurisdiction. In connection with any exercise of such rights, you grant us, and our assigns, the right to identify you as the author of any of such postings or submissions, or any excerpts or derivative works, in whole or in part, thereof by name, email address or screen name, as we may deem appropriate at our sole discretion. Nothing in these Terms shall require us to so identify you as the author of any of such posted or submitted material, in whole or in part.

If you are a copyright owner who believes your material has been made available to other parties via the Site in a manner which constitutes copyright infringement, please inform our designated copyright agent by email to editor@lionpublishers.com. Please include the following information in your notice: (1) a detailed description of the copyrighted work that is allegedly infringed upon; (2) a description of the location of the allegedly infringing material on the Site; (3) your contact information, including your address, telephone number and email address; (4) a statement by you indicating that you have a good-faith belief that the allegedly infringing use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; (5) a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, affirming that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf; and (6) an electronic signature of the copyright owner or someone authorized on the owner's behalf to assert infringement of copyright and to submit the statement. Please note that the contact information provided in this paragraph is for suspected copyright infringement only. Contact information for other matters is provided elsewhere in these Terms of Service or on the Site.

II. Interactive features

This Site may include a variety of features, such as story comments, forums, live chats and email services, that allow feedback to the Site and real-time interaction between users and other features, such as profiles, personalized pages, private messages and email services, that allow users to communicate with others. Responsibility for information that is posted or provided on any area or application on or provided by or through the Site lies with each user - you alone are responsible for the material you post. The Site does not control the messages, information or files that others may provide through the Site. Your permission for use of the Site is conditional, provided you do not:

• Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Site.
• Scrape or otherwise collect, automatically or otherwise, for the purpose of spamming email addresses or other contact information that has been posted by other users of the Site.
• Use the Site to post, transmit or in any way exploit any information, software or other material for commercial purposes.
• Use the Site to advertise or solicit to anyone to buy or sell products or services, or to make donations of any kind, without the express written approval of the Site.
• Use the Site to post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law.
• Use the Site to post or transmit any information, software or other material that violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material that is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or that is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right or intellectual property right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or right holder.
• Use the Site to post or transmit any information, code, software or other content that contains a virus, other harmful component, or any component that is designed to violate these Terms.

You understand that the Site has no obligation to moderate or monitor any story comments, chats, forums or other areas of the Site which permit user-generated content. The Site reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or governmental request, or to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, that in Sites's sole discretion are objectionable or in violation of these Terms of Service.

III. Registration

To use certain features of the Site, you must register. You agree to provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Site's registration form, and to maintain and promptly update the information you provide. If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information provided by you or represented as being provided by you is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Site or any portion, service, or application thereof.

IV. Passwords

To use certain features of the Site, you will need a username and password, which you will provide through the Site's registration process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account, and are responsible for all activities (whether by you or by others) that occur under your password or account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and to ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. The Site cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage of any sort arising from your failure to protect your password or account information.

V. Online transactions

The Site may provide services and/or applications that allow you to purchase various products and services that are provided or fulfilled by third parties. We are not responsible for the quality, timeliness, uptime, reliability, accuracy or any other performance measurement of these products and services. If you purchase anything from a merchant on the Site or on a site linked to by the Site, the information obtained by that merchant's online store or site, and the information that you provide during that transaction, such as your credit card number and contact information, is collected by that merchant. A merchant may have separate privacy and data collection practices. We have no responsibility or liability for these policies. For more information regarding a merchant, its online store and its privacy policies, contact the merchant directly or read its policies on its website. You release LION Publishers and its partners from any damages that you incur, and agree not to assert any claims against them arising from your purchase or use of any products or services made available by third parties through LION Publishers.

When you purchase products or services on or through the Site, you may be subject to additional terms and conditions that specifically apply to your purchase or use of such products or services. If you have any questions about these additional terms and conditions, you should contact the merchant of such products or services directly.

You agree to be financially responsible for all purchases made by you or someone acting on your behalf through the Site. You agree to use the Site and to purchase services or products through the Site for legitimate, non-commercial purposes only. You also agree not to make any purchases for speculative, false or fraudulent purposes or for the purpose of anticipating demand for a particular product or service. You agree to only purchase goods or services for yourself or for another person for whom you are legally permitted to do so. When making a purchase for a third party that requires you to submit that party's personal information to the Site or to a merchant, you represent that you have obtained the express consent of such third party to provide such information.

VI.  Sustainability audits

LION Publishers may offer surveys, including its Sustainability Audit, to its members and to you, for free or in exchange for a fee. By participating in the Sustainability Audit, you will receive a report detailing the results of the audit and benchmarking data that will allow you to compare the results of your Sustainability Audit with other comparable organizations. Your Sustainability Audit report and your survey responses may be shared with partners and funders.

If you complete a survey through the Site, including the Sustainability Audit, you are granting us and anyone authorized by us the right to use the information submitted to create and publish public and private web content, reports, or data visualizations presenting aggregated or anonymized information. We may make private web content, reports, or data visualizations available only to members or their affiliated organizations, and you may not have access to these resources even if you have paid a fee. All web content, reports, or data visualizations derived from survey responses is the intellectual property of LION Publishers.

VII. Directories and listings

The information contained in any business, event or other directories or listings that may be provided on the Site is provided for business lookup purposes and/or solely personal use and is not to be used for marketing or telemarketing applications. "Scraping" of data and information is prohibited.  This information may not be copied or redistributed and is provided "as is" without any warranty of any kind. In no event will the Site or its suppliers be liable in any way with regard to such information.

VIII. Advertising and sponsorship materials

When you submit an ad or sponsorship notice for publication or display on the Site, you agree that the ad or notice as it appears on the Site becomes the property of the Site and you assign all ownership interest such ad or notice under copyright law or otherwise to the Site. Acceptance of a submission of an ad or notice does not constitute a commitment to publish the ad or notice, and publication of an ad or notice does not constitute an agreement for continued publication. We reserve the right to edit, revise, reject, remove or cancel any ad or notice at any time, at our sole discretion.

IX. Equal Housing Opportunity

All real estate advertised on the Site is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise "any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination." State and local laws may also forbid discrimination based on these factors and others. We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all housing advertised is available on an equal opportunity basis.

X. Compliance with legal processes

We may disclose personal information if we or one of our affiliated companies is required by law to disclose personal information, or if we believe in good faith that such action is necessary to comply with a law or some legal process, to protect or defend our rights and property, to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our websites or to protect the personal safety or property of our users or the public.

XI. Disclaimers

This Site includes links and pointers to websites, applications, content and services provided by third parties. Our linking to third party sites does not imply an endorsement or sponsorship of such sites, or the information, products or services offered on or through the sites. Neither LION Publishers, its parent or subsidiary companies nor their affiliates operate or control in any respect any information, products or services that third parties may provide on or through the Site or on websites linked to by LION Publishers. The materials, information, products and services offered on or through the Site and any third-party sites are provided "as is" and without warranties of any kind either express or implied. To the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable law, LION Publishers disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. LION Publishers does not warrant that the Site or any of its functions will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that any part of this Site, or the servers that make it available, are free of viruses or other harmful components.

LION Publishers does not warrant or make any representations regarding the use or the results of the use of the Site or materials in this Site or in third-party sites in terms of their correctness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or otherwise. You (and not LION Publishers) assume the entire cost of all necessary maintenance, repair or correction.

XII. Limitation of liability

Under no circumstances, including, but not limited to, negligence, shall LION Publishers, its subsidiary and/or parent companies or affiliates be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages that result from the use of, or the inability to use, LION Publishers materials, products, or services, or third party materials, products, or services made available through the Site, or any part of the Site, even if LION Publishers is advised beforehand of the possibility of such damages. If you let the smoke out of your computer, that's your own fault. (Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain categories of damages, the above limitation many not apply to you. In such states, said liability is limited to the fullest extent permitted by such state law.) You acknowledge and agree that LION Publishers is not liable for any defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of any user. If you are dissatisfied with any LION Publishers materials, products, or services, or with any of LION Publishers's terms and conditions, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Site.

We may cancel or terminate your right to use the Site or any part of the Site at any time without notice. In the event of cancellation or termination, you are no longer authorized to access the part of the Site affected by such cancellation or termination. The restrictions imposed on you with respect to material downloaded from the Site, and the disclaimers and limitations of liabilities set forth in these Terms of Service, shall survive.

This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between us and you with respect to the subject matter contained in this agreement and supersedes all previous and contemporaneous agreements, proposals and communications, written or oral. You also may be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use the products or services of a third party that are provided through the Site. In the event of any conflict between any such third-party terms and conditions and these Terms of Service, these Terms of Service shall govern. This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Arizona without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.