How to Find the Latest Headlines and Most Popular Stories on The Mercury News

Updated

Open mercurynews.com and scan the homepage in this order: Featured for the top stories of the moment, Latest Headlines for the newest updates, then Most Popular and In Case You Missed It for what other readers are spending time on. This works for anyone who wants a quick read of the day's news without hunting through sections; the homepage is the fastest route, and no account is needed to browse the front page.

What each homepage section gives you

The homepage is organized into labeled blocks, so you can match the section to what you need rather than scrolling blindly.

Section What it shows Best for
Featured Top stories of the moment, with short summaries Getting the day's biggest stories in a minute
Latest Headlines Newest items, each with a timestamp (e.g., "3 hours ago," "28 seconds ago") Tracking breaking news as it lands
Most Popular Widely read stories, often repeated with their headlines Seeing what other readers care about
In Case You Missed It Stories you may have skipped Catching up after time away
Crime and Public Safety A dedicated block for public-safety reporting Following local safety news specifically

A practical routine: start with Featured to orient yourself, switch to Latest Headlines when you want the freshest items, and finish with Most Popular if you want to know what's driving conversation.

Reading the timestamps

Latest Headlines pairs each item with a relative timestamp. That is the simplest way to judge freshness — an item marked "28 seconds ago" is newer than one marked "3 hours ago." If you only care about what changed since your last visit, scan the timestamps first and open only the recent ones.

Using Most Popular as a signal, not a ranking of importance

Most Popular reflects readership, not editorial priority. A story can top that list because it is unusual or widely shared rather than because it is the most significant news of the day. Treat it as a shortcut to what people are discussing, and cross-check against Featured for editorial weight.

A concrete example

Suppose you have five minutes before a meeting and want to know what happened in the Bay Area overnight. Open the homepage, read the Featured summaries, then check the Latest Headlines timestamps for anything posted in the last few hours. If a story appears in both Featured and Most Popular, it is likely both significant and widely read — a reasonable candidate for your one deep read.

Common snags

  • Headlines repeat across sections. The same story often appears in Featured, Most Popular, and In Case You Missed It. That is normal; use the repetition as confirmation of importance, not as new information.
  • The homepage changes through the day. Sections are updated continuously, so a story you saw in the morning may move down or off the front page by afternoon. If you need to keep it, open the article rather than relying on its position.
  • Some content sits behind a subscription. The site references subscribing, and payment options include Apple Pay, but the homepage itself is browsable. If a specific article asks you to subscribe, that is a per-article limit rather than a site-wide wall — check the headline list first to see whether the story you want is accessible.

Related questions

  • What kind of news and topics does The Mercury News cover?
  • What is The Mercury News website?