Union County HAWK, we send our heartfelt wishes to you, our readers, for a happy holiday season and new year. It’s been another busy year here at the newspaper offices, with plenty to keep us going across the seven towns we cover.

One thing we continue to be grateful for at the newspaper offices is you — our loyal and devoted readers. Since 1890, The Leader has strived to provide its readers with the most comprehensive information about what’s going on not only in Westfield, but, more recently, Cranford and Mountainside, as well as the county government. The HAWK, and its predecessor, The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times, also has worked hard since 1959 to deliver the news from Scotch Plains, Fanwood, Garwood and Clark, along with the county.

And you, our readers, continue to be engaged, faithful, opinionated and committed — as you always have been. We are fully aware of this and are very grateful for your dedication to us.

It’s been tough times for the newspaper business, with the advent of the Internet and the endless online sources of news—real and otherwise. Social media seems to have made a lot of people into wanna-be experts and analysts about topics in which they often have little or zero experience.

We were saddened by the recent announcement that The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, will stop publishing a print edition early in 2025 and that the Jersey City-based Jersey Journal will cease publishing altogether, leaving Hudson County without a daily newspaper. It wasn’t too long ago that our area offered competing print news sources like the Cranford Chronicle and the Record-Press. The fewer legitimate newspapers and news sources there are, the less informed we are — and in these confusing and divisive times, real news sources are more important than ever.

Which is why, again, we are very thankful for our devoted subscribers who read us in print and online. We’re proud of the work we do bringing you the details of, for instance, Westfield’s big and controversial new redevelopment plan for the Lord & Taylor property and Scotch Plains’ attempt to revamp its downtown and the controversies surrounding the municipal government in Clark. How much will your property taxes increase next year? What curriculum changes are the local boards of education proposing? Who’s running for mayor? When will the speed limit on your street be reduced? Who’s speaking at the historical society meeting this month? How did our high-school football teams do this past weekend? Who’s performing at the jazz concert on Friday night?

You won’t find all this information in the Ledger or on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, but you will read it — every week — in the pages of the Leader and HAWK. We do our best to bring you the news from your town in as straightforward a way as we can. And we appreciate when you call us out if we make a mistake or if something we print rubs you the wrong way. Letters to the Editor are always welcome and have always been an important part of the conversation between the newspapers and our readers, whether it’s to comment on an article or a local controversy or to criticize our reporting.

We can’t do what we do without you, our subscribers and all of our great advertisers, so again, thank you for staying with us and keeping us focused on putting out what our former owner, Horace Corbin, said should be “the best little newspaper in the world.” And, again, our best wishes for the holidays and the new year!