www.roanoke.com

We began this month with a few changes to our  comics/puzzles pages lineup. One of them included dropping the Goren on Bridge column and replacing it with a new logic puzzle called Kakuro.  Our reasoning for the changes included the fact that the bridge column had received notably lackluster feedback on a reader panel we conducted earlier this year. We've also seen growing interest in mind-challenging puzzles such as Kakuro and Sudoko.

When we made the change, we left the door open and said we'd evaluate reader feedback over the next six months. But we've already heard enough: Since June 1, we've received more than 300 calls, e-mails and letters. We've even been hand-delivered a few petitions passed around at bridge clubs and nursing homes. (Actual subscription cancellations number less than a dozen.)

The bridge fans have spoken, and they'll be happy to hear the column is coming back. We expect that to happen with next week's editions, with the column moving to its new home in the classifieds section.

If you're reading this and know of a disappointed bridge fan, please spread the word.

And if you like Kakuro, let us know as well.

This afternoon our newsroom said goodbye to a co-worker, friend, industry leader and truly original human being -- multimedia editor Seth Gitner. He's leaving for a teaching position at Syracuse University, where he'll train the next generation of multimedia journalists. Fans of our late great TimesCast will remember Seth for his "point-o-meter." Internally, we'll remember him for a variety of colorful stories, such as when his duck tape approach to getting the TimesCast on the air resulted in a blown fuse that took out a portion of our advertising department. We had a time. We wish you and your family well, Seth.

The Roanoke Times' Extra section last week was named one of the top features sections in the country in its circulation category by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. According to AASFE, " the contest honors regularly scheduled feature sections that present lifestyle and arts and entertainment coverage with authority, utility, energy and wit."

Congrats go out to Kathy Lu and Stephanie Ogilvie, who edit the section, and the features reporting team: Ralph Berrier, Tad Dickens, Jennie Tal, Lindsey Nair and Kevin Kittredge.

Our sister publication, the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., is also a finalist in our division. The winners will be announced at AASFE's national convention in the fall.

A few weeks ago, I offered my perspective on the future of The Roanoke Times in light of the financial pressures on the newspaper industry. Here's another view on what's happening, from staff reporter Beth Macy writing in the latest edition of the American Journalism Review. Macy talks to several veteran journalists who say they love their business, and they're sticking around for the long haul:

Call me a Pollyanna; some of my favorite coworkers do. But there's a certain relief that came when I decided earlier this year to plant my entire body in the sand, Reporter's Notebook and all. I don't like the presses shutting down in Denver and Seattle. I hate the fact that thousands of American journalists have lost their jobs to buyouts and layoffs already this year, and many others have made the preemptive move of getting out before they're forced out.

But more than 40,000 newspaper journalists are still cranking away, and I'm grateful to be among them, having vowed to ride out the tsunami until they pry the company-owned laptop from my cold, ink-stained hands.

-- Carole Tarrant