If you find an academic paper you want to read in full, just email one of the authors. You can meet somebody new, it’s a common practice, and they’ll be glad you’re interested in their work. (The more famous ones might not be able to respond). I just did this today and the author sent the PDF half an hour later. (Thanks Michael!)
If you pair this up with the ScienceDaily digest, or Google Alerts, and an understanding of how to read and analyze papers, you’ll have an endless source of really great ideas to write about.