Letter to our readers

After much research and conversation with our readers, the Deseret Morning News changed from afternoon to morning delivery last year, reflecting the trend in newspapers in Utah and across the nation.

Readers have responded with enthusiasm. Our circulation has increased substantially. We thank you for your support and confidence.

This year will be one of continued expansion and improvement for your newspaper.

Today, and each Sunday thereafter, we add the Wall Street Journal Sunday edition to our Sunday "Money," or business, section. This is material specially prepared by the Wall Street Journal staff for weekend readers and does not appear in the weekday editions of the Journal. With the addition of our own local coverage, the combined Wall Street Journal/Deseret Morning News Sunday business section will offer readers expanded personal finance and business news coverage. Topics will cover home-buying, mortgages, investing in the markets, tax preparation, life insurance, college loans, air travel tips and others of particular relevance to our readers.

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To better handle our expanding circulation, a new $80 million-plus production facility (see illustration) will be built on a 37-acre site in West Valley City. This is a joint project of the Deseret Morning News and MediaNews Group, parent company of the Salt Lake Tribune, and will be operated by the Newspaper Agency Corp., which prints both newspapers. A bank of new, state-of-the-art printing presses will print more copies of the Deseret Morning News, with more color capacity, faster and with better reproduction quality. Construction will start soon; the presses will be shipped from TKS, a leading international press company in Japan, and the facility will be in operation by 2006.

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With the advent of morning publication, the Deseret Morning News, in addition to its strong coverage of Salt Lake City and Davis County, expanded its Utah County edition covering news in this fast-growing region. Expanded coverage meant expanding personnel. We added news and sports and photo staff to our Utah County bureau, and they now need more room. Their new home will be in space we will share with news staff from KSL-TV and KSL-Newsradio atop the Bank of American Fork building on the Orem-Provo line. The floor is being readied for news operations, and we expect to be in operation there in a few months. Watch for our sign as you drive down University Parkway.

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