You’ll notice some changes in this Sunday’s Skagit Valley Herald that are part of an ongoing process of figuring out how to best serve our readers and Web site users while taking advantage of production efficiencies.

Beginning today, all local news and features will be in the first, or A section, of the Sunday newspaper. Breaking stories will be found in the first few pages of the A section, along with fresh coverage of weekend events.

Information about local options such as fundraising events and volunteer opportunities will move to the Skagit Living section beginning today. This allows us to consolidate all that useful information, along with our Celebrations page, in one place on a weekly basis.

Also beginning this week we will no longer be printing the weekly stock and mutual fund summary tables on Sunday. This will allow us to use more valuable space in the newspaper for local news and information generated by our staff. Detailed, up-to-date financial information will be found on our Web site, http://www.goskagit.com, by going to goskagit.com/stocks.

Beginning Saturday, our coverage of religion, faith and values will move inside the A section of the newspaper as well. The full page of local church listings will no longer appear, but all of that information will continue to be available on the Web site. You will find the church directory at http://www.goskagit.com/churches.

Similar consolidations have already occurred in the paper during other days of the week, with no loss of locally generated material. In some cases that has required us to cut back on certain features such as the weekly Mini Page.

All of the changes have one premise: We will continue giving priority to local news and information.

We have the great advantage of a growing Web site where we can add features or enhance existing offerings in short order, without using an ounce of newsprint or burning a drop of gasoline delivering the paper. Increasingly, the Web site will be the first choice for presentation of the valuable local information that you can’t get anywhere else in Skagit County.

Breaking news and updated versions of previous coverage have become a daily priority on goskagit.com. We also are adding more visual elements including video. For the first time, our annual preview of the local high school football season includes video presentations every day. That eight-day series began Friday.

Additional features that open up the Web site to more user participation and contributions are in the works.

Through whatever changes we make, our mission won’t change — in fact, it will intensify. The emphasis on local news and information can only increase, and our ability to make it widely and quickly available continues to expand. Every decision we make has our readers and Web site visitors first in mind.

As always, we welcome your feedback on how we can improve our offerings in print and online.

• Don Nelson is editor of the Skagit Valley Herald. He can be reached at 360-416-2137 or by e-mail at .