The times, they are a-changin'

When I joined the Tracy Press in 2005, it was a six-day-a-week publication. As of next week, we're down to a run of once a week in print.

Though we're still going to publish breaking news and sports stories on the website, it's signals a change in how we bring you the news. It's also a big change for me, personally.

City Editor Eric Firpo will no longer be the worthy hand at the helm of our news coverage. Instead, I'll be shifting a decent slice of my focus to hard news. Have no fear, the Second Thoughts blog will still be in operation, as will my tenure as the dude in charge of the Voice section.

However, fans of the Second Thoughts column will have to be patient, as it will no longer publish on a strict weekly basis. Rather, it'll run on a whenever-I-feel-like-it-and-have-the-space basis — because as its name implies, we want to field as many voices as possible in the Voice section.

This is a tough transitional time for the Press, but we're also excited. Because this gives us another chance to hone our focus and bring you news that matters about Tracy, Mountain House and San Joaquin County. It's a silver lining in a cloud that otherwise is pretty freakin' dark.

I just hope you alert readers decide to bear with us. Because while we might be down to one publication a week, we're not abandoning our mission — to be your eyes and ears, and to give you the best understanding possible about what's happening in our communities.