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Eight months ago, Leader Publications made significant changes to how the Niles Daily Star and Dowagiac Daily News are distributed — reducing frequency from five issues per week to two.

As the pandemic and related restrictions have wreaked havoc on businesses, Leader Publications has felt the residual effects. With advertising dollars down, fewer people leaving the house to buy the newspaper from the boxes, and more and more readers opting to read online, we have made the difficult decision to transition to weekly print publications.

Beginning next week, your newspaper will arrive in your mailbox on Saturday only.

When we reduced publication cycle in April, I promised you would not see less content in your remaining newspapers, and I hope you agree we have kept this promise. Your newspapers have been stuffed cover to cover with local news that directly impacts you — often times 28 pages worth.

As we move to a weekly format, you can expect page count of the remaining editions to increase again. With this increase, you will find even more local news than before. This cycle also enables us to dig deeper into stories, publish more investigative pieces and spend more time on features that tell our community’s story.

While subscribers pay their bills in monthly increments, their accounts are charged by publication. This means that if you paid for a six-month subscription, your subscription will now last one year. If you paid for an annual subscription, your subscription will now last two years.

We also kept our promise that our news site, leaderpub.com, would become a 24-hour news engine, publishing information as it happens. We are committed to upholding this promise as we move forward.

We appreciate the loyalty of our print subscribers, and the continued support of this traditional medium. Without you, we could not do what we do. Although I know many of you will be disappointed by this change, I assure you that we are committed to producing the best possible newspapers that inform southwest Michigan, document important events and connect our community.

Thank you for your continued support. We are proud to be your hometown newspaper and look forward to continuing that tradition for many, many years to come.