With Gratitude,

Our annual “Gratitude: Thanks to Our Heroes” section highlights the individuals and organizations that have made a difference in the lives of the people in our community. As we were preparing the section this year, I couldn’t help but think about the sacrifices our team makes each and every day. I am so grateful for all of their hard work throughout 2022.

As part of the “new normal” created by the pandemic, we have successfully evolved into a hybrid work environment.

Our news teams are able to efficiently and effectively provide readers with critical news and information important to our local communities; our finance and advertising departments have evolved from an in-person-only process to a multi-faceted one, incorporating more technology based systems, including video conferencing and webbased services; our production department continues to locally create our print editions with inserts for our readers; and our subscriber services department continues to work on our conversion project, deploying iPads to subscribed readers, and delivering our daily newspapers to dealer locations throughout the community, as well as our Sunday editions to subscribers’ homes.

As the effects of the pandemic have continued through 2022, so has our dedication to reporting local news, while assuring that our marketing partners sustain their businesses and continue to grow during these unprecedented times.

Today, our newsrooms, subscriber services and advertising departments are working diligently to cover a larger geographical area with the in-depth, hyper-local news our readers expect, as well as offer expanding print and digital services to distribute marketing messages for local businesses. Our audience, digital services, print products, marketing solutions and overall organization will continue to grow so that we can positively impact our local community in 2023 and beyond.

We continue to be the most complete news and information provider in Northwest Arkansas and expanded that effort in 2021 with the creation of the River Valley Democrat-Gazette. Our downtown Fort Smith office, located at 5 Court St., recently added a tenth team member. Staff gathers regularly in the office for collaborative meetings, to record audio and video programs in the studio, and meet with our marketing partners. Our coverage continues to focus on local news and event reports that are important to readers in the River Valley region.

I also want to express my gratitude to you, our reader. Without your committed support of local journalism, we would not have been able to make these investments in the future of our community. Thank you for supporting our vision of a united, informed community with your subscription. I am excited about what we have planned for 2023 and how it will positively benefit our community at-large.

Thank you,

and I hope you each have a great Thanksgiving!

Brent Powers,

President