It’s a good question, and in some ways, the answer may seem counter-intuitive. Combining the sections, at least on some days, could increase the amount of space for Nation/World news. Here’s part of my answer to the reader’s email:

“We are primarily a local newspaper, and our focus has long been on local news about Lexington and Kentucky. That is our franchise, the one thing we can and do provide that our readers can’t get anywhere else. Moving City/Region into the A section further emphasizes that mission. That said, we also understand that readers want national and international coverage. The new design we launched today actually will give us flexibility on many days to increase space for national and international news, based on the actual flow of the news cycle.

“In our old sectioning scheme, space for local news and for Nation/World news was fixed, and the two were in different sections. This made it difficult to adjust space as news warranted. (In other words, if we had a light local news day, as sometimes happens, it was difficult to shift extra space to other kinds of news, and vice versa.) Under the new sectioning scheme, if we have a light local news day, we can adjust our space to make more room available for Nation/World. Of course, the reverse holds true. On a heavy local news day, we can adjust space in the news section to accommodate.

“You can see the practical effect of this in today’s paper. Last Monday, before the changes, we devoted one full page in the A section to Nation/World (page A3). Beyond that, only one other national story could fit in the A section, on page A4. On that day, we did not have room for a “Close-Up,” the longer features we often run on national/international news.

“Today, the first day of the combined News section, we had a relatively light local news day, so we adjusted to make more room available for national/international stories. We devoted one full page (A7) to Nation/World. We also had a national story on page A6, four national stories on page A8, a national obituary (William Safire) on page A5 and enough Nation/World space on page A10 to run a “Close-Up” story about the flu.

“Overall, the amount of Nation/World content was higher after the changes we made today (a total of 10 stories today, versus 5 last Monday, not counting National/World news briefs)…

“Not every day will be exactly like today, but flexibility was a key piece of the format change.

“We have also made more room available for news stories on the Business page (by reducing the amount of stocks listings), and some of this space will be used for national and international stories about business and the economy.”

- Peter Baniak (pbaniak@herald-leader.com)

The changes will provide a more consistent, easier-to-follow reading experience throughout the daily newspaper, while also saving on newsprint costs.

We’ll be adding or bringing back some things you’ve told us you want — more space for daily business news and stories, a free-standing Tuesday health section, a full-color Weekender and a daily box of TV highlights, to name a few.

Here’s what you’ll notice most:

There will be three sections Monday through Saturday. On those days, the A section and the City/Region section will be combined into a single News section.

You’ll find City/Region on page A3, including a daily digest of news and briefs from around our coverage area. Obituaries will now run in this News section. The Nation/World page will remain, though it will move back a few pages in the section.

The Herald-Leader’s primary focus is local reporting about news and life in Lexington and Kentucky. By moving City/Region into the front section, we’ll be emphasizing this local news mission even more.

Other things to note about the News section:

■ The Opinion, Commentary and Feedback pages will remain in the the A section.

■ Pop!, along with the new TV highlights box, will remain on A2.

■ The Kentucky Lottery results will move to A2 as well.

Monday through Saturday, the paper’s three sections will be: News, Sports and on different days, Business Monday, Life or Weekender.

The Sunday newspaper format will remain unchanged, with a separate City/Region section, Sports, Life + Arts, Sunday Comics and an Opinions/Ideas section.

We will bringing back a Tuesday features section, with a focus on health, an area that is at the top of the news now more than ever.

All of the features sections are being refocused around a Life theme that will provide greater flexibility in the content that runs there, while still highlighting the primary themes and special features you’ve come to expect. In weeks to come, you’ll be seeing a wider variety of content in these sections, with an emphasis on the local stories and personalities that you can find only in the Herald-Leader.

Comics will continue to run on two pages in this section. And on Fridays, the entire Weekender section will now have color on every page.

The weekly features lineup will be:

■ Monday — Business Monday

■ Tuesday — Life + Health

■ Wednesday — Life + Neighbors

■ Thursday — Life + Food

■ Friday — Weekender

■ Saturday – Life + Home and Life + Faith

■ Sunday — Life + Arts

The weather will run on the back of Sports, as will the daily Your Health feature, seven days a week.

Now, a few words about business news.

The Business page will run in the Sports section Tuesday through Saturday.

We will be reducing the amount of stock listings on the Business page to make more space available for business news, stories and photos, both local and national. This change doubles the amount of space available each day for news about business and the economy.

The weekly stock and mutual fund listings in Business Monday will remain the same. If one of your stocks was cut from the daily page, you can go here to create a free portfolio tracker.

Longtime financial columns The Motley Fool and Bruce Williams, which have run infrequently in recent months because of space constraints in Business Monday, will find permanent homes on the expanded Tuesday and Saturday pages, respectively.

Throughout the paper, we have made subtle style changes to maximize the space we have available. The goal is to effectively use the space in the newspaper to continue to give you the local news, sports, business and features content you can’t get anywhere else.

- Peter Baniak (pbaniak@herald-leader.com)

In its absence, we tested two other comic strips, and after a lot of feedback, it became clear that we should bring Daddy’s Home back, starting today.

The second test strip, Mallard Fillmore, received more support than Brewster Rockit did, but our voice mail and e-mail feedback — hundreds of messages — still ran overwhelmingly in favor of Daddy’s Home.

We want to thank everyone who took the time to tell us what you thought. We received many suggestions for other strips or changes as well, and we will consider those in the future.

It’s the kind of journalism that digs under rocks, that tells you something you don’t already know, that looks beyond press releases and news conferences and scripted news events to find out how public money is being spent, or how public officials are behaving.

It’s the kind of journalism that the Herald-Leader has long been known for in Kentucky.

By the calls and comments I get on an almost-daily basis, many of you have noticed that, over the last year or so, the Herald-Leader has redoubled its attention to this kind of journalism.

You’ve read and commented on stories that delved into the state’s $880 million courthouse building program, and on a series of investigations into spending at public and quasi-public institutions (Blue Grass Airport, Lexington Public Library, the Kentucky League of Cities, the Kentucky Association of Counties).

These stories have had many things in common: They’ve examined areas of spending that normally don’t elicit public scrutiny. They’ve all led to changes, either in personnel, spending habits or policies.

And they have all benefited from feedback and tips from you, the readers of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com.

Now we’re adding a new tool in our efforts to hold government, institutions and those in power accountable. It’s a tool that we hope will make it even easier for you to follow our watchdog reporting efforts, and to participate in them as well.

This weekend, the Herald-Leader launches a new “Watchdog” page on the Web. You can find it at www.kentucky.com/watchdog.

This page is an extension of our recent watchdog reporting efforts – the kind of investigative, dig-below-the-surface journalism that you won’t get from other local media or the blogosphere.

On the watchdog page, you can easily track the Herald-Leader’s top investigative reports, as well as follow-up stories that flow out of them.

A “data sleuth” section connects you to many searchable databases of public records, from government salaries to expense reports, nursing home violations to lawsuits. We invite you to look through these records, and to let us know if you find anything interesting, or worth further checking.

A “citizen watchdog” feature connects you to resources and information on ways to do your own investigating — tips for filing public records requests, contact information for public officials, links for other sources of public information.

You can read great examples of watchdog reporting from other journalists around the country.

And you can meet and contact the Herald-Leader’s accountability reporters, a team that we recently expanded to ensure we continue to focus on watchdog stories that really delve deep.

Finally, the page gives you a direct way to send your valuable tips, suggestions and information to the Herald-Leader’s team of watchdogs. You can do this through an email link on the page. You can also follow the watchdog page on Twitter (@kywatchdog) and Facebook (KentuckyWatchdog).

Please take a look, and let us know what you think. Most importantly, keep those tips coming.

- Peter Baniak (pbaniak@herald-leader.com)

Starting next Sunday, On TV Magazine, the new listings book carried by the Herald-Leader, will be delivered only to readers who have subscribed to the magazine for 59 cents a week. The Herald-Leader has delivered On TV for free the last four weeks to give you a flavor for the magazine, and to help ease the transition.

I know this is a big change, especially for the dedicated group of readers who rely on the in-paper listings to find their favorite programs and plan their TV viewing. It’s not a change we make lightly.

But, for financial reasons, it’s a change the Herald-Leader needed to make.

It’s also an opportunity for us to give readers of the TV book something they’ve long told us they want: A better TV book with a lot more content.

Over the last few weeks, I and other Herald-Leader employees have spoken to many readers who have called with questions or concerns about this change. Here are answers to some of the most common:

Why make the change?

TV books have increasingly become a conundrum for newspapers. They are expensive to produce — the Herald-Leader was spending $165,750 a year to produce its 12-page book. The cost is especially prohibitive when you consider that fewer readers are using the in-paper book in an era of cable channel listings, digital video recorders and listings on the Web.

That meant thousands of TV Books were being discarded each week without ever being opened.

Switching to an opt-in model allows us to deliver a higher quality book of TV listings to readers who really want one. Yes, this saves expense for the Herald-Leader, but it also saves a lot of wasted newsprint (and that’s better for the environment).

The Herald-Leader is not the first newspaper to switch to an opt-in model; other papers around the country are distributing TV books only to consumers who want them and are willing to pay a small additional fee.

Why is it necessary to charge for On TV Magazine when the old TV Book was free?

In the 14 years I’ve been at the Herald-Leader, the story of the TV Book has been one of near-constant contraction. Time and again, the book was reduced in size, losing content along the way. Over the years, the book shrank from 44 tabloid pages or more down to the 12-page tab that we last printed in July.

Every time the TV Book shrank, we’d hear about it from those who rely on the listings. And each time, they would tell us that the book just didn’t have enough information.

The new On TV Magazine, at 44 pages, restores a lot of that valuable content. It has more listings for more hours (including late night listings), a more complete movie guide, daily highlights, games, puzzles, trivia and more. It’s also in an easier-to-handle “book” format.

Beefing up the TV offerings required adding a weekly subscription price of 59 cents, which is in the middle range of newspapers who have switched to an opt-in model.

Can I still get any free listings from the Herald-Leader?

We still offer free local listings on our Web site. To find them, go here. Then click on “Search TV Listings.” This feature allows you to set up your own TV grids for free, based on your viewing preferences.

Who produces On TV Magazine?

On TV is produced by NTVB Media, which has been in the TV listings business for 25 years. It is inserted into the Herald-Leader for subscribers who opt in. Subscriptions to On TV are handled by NTVB, not by the Herald-Leader.

What if I buy the paper at the grocery story or gas station on Sunday?

Readers who buy at retail outlets will get a smaller 16-page version of On TV, called On Lite. These single-copy buyers already pay the full Sunday Herald-Leader cover price of $2, which is significantly more than what home-delivery subscribers pay.

What do I need to do to keep getting a TV book?

If you want to continue receiving On TV Magazine in your Sunday paper, you can send in the form on the cover of Sunday’s magazine, go to www.iwantmytvmagazine.com/lexington on the Web or call (800) 999-8881 (then press 6). The phone option is available during regular business hours weekdays and before 11 a.m. on the weekend .

- Peter Baniak, pbaniak@herald-leader.com

We understand your passion. And we heard you. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy! will not fly in the Bluegrass.

We have cut short a planned two-month run of the space-adventure spoof comic strip because of an overwhelmingly negative reader response. Hundreds of you called or wrote to let us know how much you disliked the strip. Many of those readers also made it plain that Daddy’s Home was among their favorite strips.

No more than six of you weighed in with praise for Brewster.

So the decision was obvious: Send Brewster to the far reaches of the galaxy.

Starting Monday, we are going to test-run one more strip: Mallard Fillmore. Over the years, we have heard readers’ complaints that our comics pages have several strips, most notably Doonesbury, that lean left, but none that lean right. So, for a month, we’ll see how the conservative duck fares with you.

In other comics news, we also heard from many irate fans of the single-panel comic Non Sequitur. Last year, in ­response to a drawn-out campaign to return Dennis the Menace to the comics pages from the classified section, we put Dennis back on the comics section and sent Non-Sequitur to the classifieds.

The problem is, Non Sequitur is ­wordier and more detailed than many comics, and at a size that fits on the ­classified pages, it becomes hard to read. So we’re working on a way to get Non ­Sequitur back on the comics pages as well.

Now for some background, and an answer to the question of why we “keep tinkering with the comics.”
We are well aware of the value of the comics pages, and we know that ­whenever we make a change, we’re going to hear from people. That’s a good thing.

The trouble is, everyone’s idea of a great comic is different. So we try to give all readers a few comics that they’ll like.

It’s the strips that too few people care about that we try to replace. That’s what prompted the latest experiment.

When we debuted Daddy’s Home last August to replace For Better or For Worse (whose story line was ending), we didn’t hear anything, good or bad, and we began to wonder: Is anyone reading this strip?

Now we know.

To offer feedback about the comics pages, please call (859) 231-1368 or send an e-mail to comics@herald-leader.com.

We allow commenting on most stories, but take heightened care with commenting on a few categories of stories that in the past have shown that they tend to get out of hand in ways that violate or get awfully close to violating our commenting policy. Among other things, that policy states that users may not post a comment that is “libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, that violates a third party’s right to privacy, that otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, or that is otherwise inappropriate.”

We do not have the staff to monitor comments on every story on the site on a minute-by-minute basis, though we do respond to reports of abuse. And in the past, commenting on some types of stories has moved into inappropriate areas quickly. Frankly, from experience, one of the categories that we look at more carefully involves allegations of a sexual nature or stories involving sex. In the Pitino case, given the nature of the allegations contained in the police report, it was our expectation that the commenting would get out of hand quickly – and we would not have the capacity to monitor or remove inappropriate comments quickly enough. So commenting was disabled.

I know this isn’t popular with everyone who uses the site, but we thought it prudent to make the decision on the front end.

It’s worth noting that other news outlets also did not allow commenting on these stories, though some did. I have looked at a few media sites that are allowing commenting on the Pitino stories, and that has, to me, validated our decision to disable commenting. On many of those sites, the commenting has devolved into crude sexual commentary, vulgarity, and tasteless personal attacks on both of the parties involved in the story.

In the unusual cases when we disable story commenting, we try to give readers other avenues to express their opinions. On this story, there are many such avenues. First, there is a poll on www.kentucky.com connected with the stories that allows readers to vote on whether Pitino should keep his job. As always, forums and message boards are available on the Web site for readers to discuss the story. And John Clay, who monitors comments on his blog, is allowing comments on Sidelines (as well as commentary appearing on Twitter about the Pitino) matter.

Again, thanks to all those who shared their thoughts on commenting in this case. If you have any questions or comments on commenting, feel free to contact me at pbaniak@herald-leader.com.

Peter Baniak

Linda Austin

For the last two years, I’ve had the amazing good fortune to work with an incredible group of journalists at the Herald-Leader. Every day, they strive to bring you the very best local news coverage. In recent months, that task has been more challenging as the Herald-Leader newsroom, like many other companies, has downsized. But the staff’s commitment, passion and creativity in getting and delivering the news to you has never faltered.

Given the caliber of my colleagues and the delight I’ve taken in serving you as editor of the Herald-Leader, only an incredibly exciting opportunity could lure me away. But that opportunity has come along, and I will be leaving to become director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University’s campus in Phoenix. The center is part of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where I will also be a professor of practice.

The center provides training to business journalists nationwide through both workshops and online. Given the current economic meltdown, clear and cogent business reporting has never been more important. This position gives me the chance to help improve that reporting on a national stage. The center’s mission dovetails neatly with my longstanding advocacy for better training for journalists and my background as business editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

I hope to foster on a national scale the kind of watchdog journalism that the Herald-Leader’s staff has long been known for doing.  Just since Jan. 1, six public officials have resigned following our reporting about runaway spending at Blue Grass Airport, a questionable raise at the state Office of Homeland Security, and bonding questions about the state’s courthouse construction program.

The newsroom has also worked hard to deliver the news to you online, launching three Web sites — LexGo.com, bluegrassmoms.com and kentuckysports.com — as well as enhancing our coverage of high school sports and giving a venue to community bloggers. Our efforts to tell stories with audio, video and photos gained international recognition when one of our multimedia projects, “A New Dawn? A Kentucky Mother’s Struggle through Drug Court,” was picked as the best in the world in the Pictures of the Year International competition last year.

Without question, the newsroom is losing some very good folks today as the Herald-Leader contracts in response to the recession that has gripped so many businesses, including our advertisers. Their many contributions will be missed, but I am certain that the Herald-Leader’s commitment to delivering quality local reporting to you will not waver.

Along with encouraging public-service journalism, one of the best parts of the editor’s job has been getting to know you, the audience of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com. Even though we didn’t always agree, I’ve learned a great deal about the state and how to serve you better because many of you have taken the time to get in touch. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas with me. I will miss our conversations. I hope you will continue to contact Peter Baniak at pbaniak@herald-leader.com , the deputy managing editor, as he steers the newsroom in the coming weeks.

I also will miss Kentucky. I fell in love with the place the first time I flew into Blue Grass Airport almost 20 years ago and saw the white fences and chestnut horses, looking for all the world look like the toy farm with plastic animals I had as a child. Up close and personal, the state has been even better than I imagined, whether that’s meant sampling burgoo while rooting for the horses at Keeneland or scrambling up the Indian Stairway at the Red River Gorge.

Thanks to my fond memories of you and the Herald-Leader’s talented staff, I will keep a bit of the Bluegrass with me, even as I move to the Valley of the Sun.

– Linda Austin at laustin@herald-leader.com

Opus the penguin, who came to the comics pages in Bloom County, then returned in a Sunday-only strip called Outland and again in one called simply Opus, will disappear after Sunday.

Berkeley Breathed, who created all three strips, said the portly penguin will not be back, and Breathed will focus on writing and illustrating children’s books.

Meanwhile, Dennis the Menace, which has run in newspapers for nearly 60 years, shows no sign of getting old. Calls, letters and e-mail messages to the Herald-Leader have persuaded us to return Dennis to our comics pages.

Opus — a daydreamer, neurotic but always optimistic, and an easy mark for TV pitches for turnip twaddlers — will be gone, but only his creator knows his fate.

Several weeks ago, Breathed announced a contest for readers to predict Opus’ fate. Breathed will donate $10,000 to a cat and dog shelter named by the reader who correctly guesses Opus’ fate.

In the event of multiple correct guesses, one name will be drawn.

Ten second-prize winners will each receive an autographed copy of Opus: 25 years of his Sunday Best.
Winners will be announced at http://www.hsus.org and www.BerkeleyBreathed.com as early as Monday.

Dennis Mitchell, on the other hand, has been “five and a half” for nearly 60 years, and he shows no signs of slowing down.

Dennis the Menace was dropped from the Herald-Leader’s comics pages about a year ago, after a survey off all of the papers comics showed little support for the 57-year-old comic strip.

The strip’s fans, however, have been vocal. Responding to reader protest, the Herald-Leader brought Dennis back, albeit in the classified ads, where it appeared six days a week but never in the same place.

That didn’t appease the strip’s fans, so starting Monday, Dennis the Menace will be on the comics page, and Non Sequitur will run in the classifieds.

Non Sequitur, by Wiley Miller, is one of the single-panel comics that were added during a major comics-page renovation last October.

No strip will immediately replace Opus in our Sunday comics. With Opus gone, we can make some of the Sunday comics slightly larger.

As always, if you want to comment on our comics, leave a voice message at (859) 231-1368 or e-mail us at comics@herald-leader.com.

• A la Carte, our weekly food section, is moving to Thursday. It will continue to include Sharon Thompson’s stories and column and you’ll find The Fru-Gal and the Diet Detective columns there.
• Merlene Davis’ columns will appear on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday on the City/Region front.
• Sunday’s Arts + Life section will now include Celebrations - the engagement, wedding and anniversary announcements. And Snapped! the new feature of pictures of people who are out and about will appear along side Howard Snyder’s Social Scene column.
• On Tuesday, the comics, movie guide and the NIE story will appear in the Sports section.
• And, Wednesday’s Communities section will now include Fayette county lawsuits, expanded arts listings and an advice section that will include John Rosemond, Carolyn Hax, Heloise and Steve Dale’s My Pet World.