Things are looking a little different ‘round here ... we hope you noticed!

Today is the launch of the newly named and freshly designed North Springs Edition. You read that right — we’re no longer producing a Woodmen Edition. It was an area that was hard to define. But North Colorado Springs, well, everyone know that’s where the major growth is. And that’s what we’re focusing on with the North Springs Edition.

The biggest change — following the new name, of course — is the expansion of our coverage area to include the Northgate, Cordera and Wolf Ranch neighborhoods and part of the Interquest and Powers areas. We’ve also moved Gleneagle coverage from our sister paper, The Tribune, into the

North Springs Edition. It simply made sense to include it here geographically and align it with other Academy School District 20 neighborhoods.

The paper’s more modern design includes a new flag (that’s the title of the paper), a cleaner font family (that’s the type we use in the stories and headlines) and more white space (that’s the “air” around the stories and photos).

Woodmen Edition reader responses to our survey of December 2019 led the way to the paper’s new organization and features.

On the content side, per reader feedback, we are including more “good news” features, outdoor stories and arts and entertainment news. The news pages are grouped more toward the front of the paper for a better flow.

We’ve expanded our Page 2 offerings to be a “reader welcome page.” This is where you’ll turn to to find an events calendar, news briefs, our contact information in the masthead, and a new Photo of the Week feature that replaces the former Through the Lens photo pages.

This featured photo will come from a reader each week, given you are inspired to share some with us. We may also feature an organization’s submitted photo or a photo from one of our own staff or sister papers.

Also per your requests, we’re changing up our opinion content. Our Voices pages are now a bit farther back in the paper (to allow for more news pages closer to the front). The first Voices page will feature opinions from the editor and our regular columnists. The second page, now called “Your Voices,” is meant to better engage you. It will feature your letters to the editor, possibly a guest column, and a brand new feature we’re calling “What’s Your Take On ____?” In this feature we will present your reactions to issues in your neighborhood, such as reactions to a neighborhood holiday light display or a newsier issue such as car break-ins.

Also revamped is our Neighborhood Pulse section, which will still include the ever-popular real estate transactions and crime reports we gather from county and law enforcement agencies, but will now also feature a rotation of feature columns. Still included will be the hiking columns you already enjoy, but new/to come are neighborhood and business spotlights.

Do you have a new business you’d like us to feature in this new monthly piece? Shoot us an email (you’ll find our contact info in that masthead box on Page 2) and let us know.

Our Sports pages have been expanded to “Sports & Outdoors,” also because readers have spoken. You want more outdoorsy content in every paper, and less of a focus on high school sports, according to your survey responses.

You also asked us to include crossword and Sudoku puzzles in every edition. We listened. Grab a cup of coffee, head to page 14 and start puzzling!

Overall, we organized the paper to be more reader-friendly. Did we hit the mark? We’d love your feedback.

But wait, there’s more! Starting this week we’re also launching weekly email newsletters to let you know what’s coming in your North Springs Edition. These will be sent out bright and early on Tuesdays. To sign up, scan the QR code on the front page and you’ll be taken to a newsletter sign-up form on our website. Like your North Springs Edition, these newsletters are absolutely free.

Welcome to your brand new North Springs Edition.