Soon, 2018 will be coming to a close. Like any other year, this one has had ups and downs. Good news and bad news, stories that inspired and those that frightened, all of them describing a small section of time in the Greater Valley Area.

The news this year highlighted a part of the country that is changing and, in turn, the news itself changed too. The Valley Times-News overhauled its cover design and page layout for you, the reader, to be able to more easily discern what news is in an era  when that can easily be misconstrued. The intricate reporting and insightful writing that readers have come to expect from this paper largely stayed the same, with special care taken to ensure that the things most important to the community stayed at the forefront of coverage, and the only changes came in how that coverage was presented.

Throughout the changes, though, the persistent through-line was the constant stream of events, elections, crimes, meetings, achievements, celebrations, gatherings and triumphs that happened to and for the people of The Greater Valley Area. Things that mattered happened from early January to late December, and to reflect on what they all meant, the Valley Times-News is in the midst of publishing our Year in Review series. Having started yesterday, each issue of the VTN will offer the top headlines from different three-month periods. These are the headlines that helped shape the year in the minds of those who join us five days out of each week to learn what happened and what was soon to come.

The 2018 Year in Review is for readers to catch up on what they might have missed, recollect on certain stories that affected them personally and reflect on an entire year of the ups and downs. These daily reflections should act as snapshots depicting how the year was for our area as a whole, not just individually as one remembers during the end-of-year holidays.

The Year in Review is also a reminder of the news one should expect to come out of this publication, each issue a promise that similar news will show up with the mail to inform you yet again. We at The Valley Times-News pride ourselves on the service we provide while also recognizing that we can always improve, and just like the changes made in 2018, more are sure to follow next year as well.

The world, including the Greater Valley Area, is changing.

We will be here to cover it.