I'm happy to report that the changes we've been planning for the North Raleigh News for a long time are finally starting to happen.

At the end of 2004, I asked readers what we could do better in 2005.

No one was drastically unhappy, but we got a lot of little suggestions. We decided to hold a community feedback session to explore those suggestions further, and to bounce ideas off people.

That session, at Borders Books in February, was well-attended, and the ideas flowed as freely as the coffee. We realized that, though we had a good product, it could be made better with a little tinkering.

The tinkering took longer than we thought but, finally, we're done. This month we're rolling out the "new and improved" North Raleigh News. We're doing it a little bit each week, starting with the front page and working our way back.

Today, we begin a new monthly feature called "A Day in the Life." I'll let Julie Larson, one of the readers who suggested this type of feature, explain what it's about: "I would like to see interviews with unsung heroes of North Raleigh ... This would be a chance to print some positive news about the good that goes on every day in North Raleigh."

A good idea. We're doing it.