In case you missed the big news last week, The Fountain Hills Times has been acquired by Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA. And while that does mean there will be some changes in operations and the like, the goal is to make this as smooth a transition as possible for our advertisers and readers. The staff is excited to tackle these new challenges in the coming weeks as team members get their feet under them and become members of the Independent Newsmedia family.

The purpose of this note is to remind everyone that this process will take a little time, so we’re asking everyone to be patient as everything is finalized. You’ll learn about those details simply by continuing to read the paper and, before you know it, Fountain Hills Times Independent will feel as familiar as the hometown paper you folks have been reading for nearly 50 years.

For now, the big thing to keep in mind is deadlines. We wrote about these changes last week and have put several reminders on our Facebook page, but it bears repeating: Deadlines are changing. The advertising deadline is now 3 p.m. every Wednesday and the deadline for editorial content, including letters to the editor, is noon Thursdays. We may discover that those need to be altered slightly in the coming weeks but, for now, please keep those new deadlines in mind if you’re looking to take out an ad or share your opinion with your neighbors.