Dear Readers,

The New Year has rolled around and that means another chance for students to earn all A’s in classes and a fresh start for The Daily Illini to publish quality journalism. When you picked up this newspaper, you probably noticed things look a little bit different. Gone is the Alma Mater in our nameplate, and the pages appear cleaner and better laid out – all for your reading enjoyment.

We’ve stripped down our comics section and made room for more themed features. Our news desk has been divided into two separate sections to better cover campus and city/state issues. To readers, those changes are all that matter. Inside our newsroom we’ve split several jobs to ensure everything here runs more smoothly and the backbone of this newspaper can really work efficiently to put out a better publication. Practically every nook and cranny of this newspaper has been tweaked.

All this wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the people who worked very hard in what most would describe as a labor of love. It’s fair to say most journalists don’t go into the job hoping to become rich; money is replaced with pride. For their dedication, I want to thank those that have made the largest impact on our improvements: Melinda Miller and Jason Koch. Miller is going into her second semester with The Daily Illini as our editorial advisor. She was the editor-in-chief for this newspaper in 1994 and has returned after gaining invaluable experiences in professional newsrooms. Koch was the copy chief last semester and is now the new managing editor for reporting.

Of course, I recognize there are many areas of the newspaper we can improve, and through time and careful planning, this newspaper will.

With the work done during our winter break, we hope to bring you the quality publication that you deserve. Expect more in depth reporting and coverage that you find interesting, and if you ever want to share your thoughts with us, don’t hesitate to send an email to [email protected].

Acton H. Gorton is senior in Communications and the editor in chief of The Daily Illini.