Media people are constantly on the look out for new information and ideas of interest and importance to their readers. Give the media what they want, and maybe they'll give you what you need. Journalists pick them up in a bar while chatting with people. Journalists hear about them when talking to friends and family. Readers letters to the editor often spark stories.
Journalists rounds, or beats, are only of the major news sources.
They phone police, and fire departments. Too hot, too cold, tornadoes, floods. Come up with a new angle on a weather story and you've got a winner. Most stories come from people contacting journalists, either face to face, on paper, or by phone. Come up with a local angle on national news, or a new angle on a weather story or any other of the regular story types, and tell a journalist about it.