Buckle up — we’re in for an interesting ride during the year ahead.

We’re in the midst of watching Barack Obama move into the White House, we have a financial system facing a potential full-out disaster in the months ahead, we still have troops fighting battles in Afghanistan and Iraq and despite the hope for change Obama instilled in millions of Americans, we face historic levels of uncertainty in America.

We have a state budget crisis that will require serious cuts in essential programs, our university will be among the entities to make difficult funding decisions, we face another round of City Council elections in April, and we have a student government on campus trying to prove its legitimacy through a new constitution.

Yep, there’s a lot going on.

With that, I welcome you to the pages of The Badger Herald and hope you’ll turn to us throughout this semester for the latest news, sports, arts and perspective.

There is no doubt the newspaper industry faces challenges of its own this year. Some of our counterparts at universities across the country have decreased their publication levels from five issues per week to four — we, thankfully, are not one of them.

Many newspapers are shifting their main focus from print to online. This semester, I hope you visit our updated website at www.badgerherald.com just as frequently as you pick up our paper. While we will not sacrifice the quality of our print edition as our website grows, we have expanded our online staff this semester to provide daily news updates and video reports. The Herald continues to be the leader in online coverage on campus.

Of course, our news team will be on top of the latest news affecting the University of Wisconsin community, and our opinion writers and editorial board will be commenting on issues facing our campus, city, state and world. Our arts staff has advice and previews of what to see, listen to, do, wear and eat, while our sports department hopes to follow Badger teams long into their respective NCAA tournaments.

Thanks for picking up the Herald today, and I hope you make us a part of your daily routine — both in print and online.