From the Editor: Patch Launches Local Voices to Feature More News and Views From Community

Since the launch of O'Fallon Patch in December, you’ve come to know this site as a go-to resource for news about your town. In addition to covering events and issues, our directory provides information about local businesses and services. You’ve used our Events and Announcements sections to find out what’s going on in town and nearby. Perhaps you’ve added your own items to these features, shared photographs and weighed in on articles in the comments area or Activity Stream.

What’s new

The new Local Voices section on our homepage is your gateway to opinions from folks in our community and local news headlines.

• Blogs: We have invited people you may already know to post blogs using our O'Fallon Patch as their platform. They may already have their own blogs as well. In addition, we’ll feature other local bloggers in a Local Voices feed.

• News: We want to be your one-stop destination for news about O'Fallon. That means finding headlines from other news sources and featuring them in the Local Voices section as well. It will also mean we write articles that “round up” issues, events and happenings from in town and nearby.

You’ve probably already noticed that Patch is ever-evolving! In April we made a few functional enhancements, including moving the Events module front and center. We also now feature four news items in the top right section of our homepage. Our Opinion columns are no longer featured on the homepage, but you can still find them under the News tab.

What’s not new

Speaking of Opinion, our great contributors who weigh in with their insights, views and reflections are not going anywhere. You will still find Chris Rachael's Food Battles and Trish's Real Mom of O'Fallon column on O'Fallon Patch. Again, simply click on the News tab and select Opinon from the drop down menu to find them. The addition of bloggers will add even more opinions and ideas to O'Fallon Patch.

As your O'Fallon Patch editor, I will continue to cover community news, write articles and take photos and video. You’ll still see me doing my job around town, along with O'Fallon contributors whose work you’ve gotten used to reading and viewing.

We still want you to share your photographs, weigh in using our comments sections or activity stream, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. If you haven’t already done any of things things, consider this your invitation!

Any questions or comments?

I’d like to hear what you think about Local Voices, so please feel free to share your feedback in our comments section (below) or even drop me a line at jordan.lanham@patch.com.