It's been far too long since my last entry. I'll try to be more faithful to the blog. For now, a few things:

*Yes, the print edition of the Freeman looks a bit different since we've narrowed the width of the pages. No sense, sugar-coating it: In a bad newspaper economy, we're always looking for expense efficiencies. The little bit of newsprint we cut from our pages represents a rather sizable savings over the cost of a year.

*We've tried to minimize the negative impact on content. But we have heard from loyal crossword puzzle readers who can't deal with the slightly smaller boxes. So we're returning the puzzle to full size next week.

*Another major step in our Digital First! climate is texting news bulletins even before we've tweeted them or posted the breaking news on our website. To sign up, text DFNews to 22700. (If you're a texter, you'll understand what that means.) As they say in the commercials, standard text message rates apply.

*If you've been visiting our website and not checked out the wide selection of videos, both locally produced and those from our sister papers in which our editors believe you'll have particular interest, do us and yourself a favor and give them a try. Remember, our newspaper is truly a multi-media company.

*There are plenty of excellent reasons for your business to be advertising on our site, too. Our people are in the field making their pitches (backed up with excellent demographic and readership data). But don't wait for their phone call. Contact Digital Sales Manager Soren Schamberg and you're on your way.