Welcome to our brand-new Weekend Edition, an expanded edition of The Mining Journal that will be published and distributed on Saturdays in place of the Sunday paper.

After a lot of thought, discussion and work, we think you’re going to like it.

The newspaper business is evolving, here and elsewhere. Publishing companies have been challenged with finding new and inventive ways to accomplish traditional tasks while seeking to improve both the printed and online product. The Weekend Edition is the fruit of that process and effort here.

We invite you to take a few minutes and have a look.

We’ve rolled many of your favorite features from Saturday and Sunday into one large edition. Readers will see a front page “anchor” story each week looking in depth at a local issue or highlighting an element of our community. With the market flooded with so-called modern journalism that emphasizes half-truths, rumor and innuendo, our professional reporting staff will dig deep and find answers to the questions readers have.

You will continue to have the features you’ve come to love in our weekend papers, including the best in local sports coverage, local stories, local opinions, letters to the editor, op-eds plus community and sports calendars and all of our weekend comics and puzzles.

Our new D section, titled Morning, UP, will include a special feature on the front of the section, greatly expanded regional coverage, a new feature that will highlight our children and all of your favorite advice columns. And Journal City Editor Ryan Jarvi rolls out a new weekly column.

West Enders from Marquette County are in for a real treat. Morning, UP will include two full pages of all-original West End content. We’ll have Athlete of the Week and Business of the Week features plus a rotating column by community and municipal leaders. We’re also planning a continuing feature focusing on West End history and a new West End calendar of events.

The Mining Journal has been here for more than 150 years for one reason: you, the reader. Our commitment to you is enduring. It is your paper and serving the community is a foundational mission of what we do. Put another way, we’re not going anywhere despite what we suspect are the hopes and dreams of our competitors and detractors.

Let us know what you think. Interim Publisher Ann Troutman can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 299 and at atroutman@miningjournal.net. Managing Editor Bud Sargent can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 244 and at bsargent@miningjournal.net.

Enjoy!