As many of you know, on Feb. 1, 2026, The Santa Fe Times, Higginsville Advance and Lexington News changed hands to new owners. We three are now under the umbrella of the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce.

This is a scary time for most of us as we make this move… They say change gets harder as you get older, well I’m only 38 and I’m feeling it! We believe this change will be a good one, but as we wade through the process of learning new procedures we ask our readers to please offer us grace. We will not have all the answers right away, but we will get there! There will likely be challenges along the road, but the most important thing is that we maintain service to our subscribers. As always, if you experience a lapse in your subscription, please let us know. You can email me at safetnews@gmail.com or call 660-542-0881. When and if this information changes, we will publish notices in the newspaper.

As part of the upcoming transition, The Santa Fe Times will be changing sports reporters. Dan Rumsey will be taking that over for us, and he currently writes sports for the Higginsville Advance.

He jokingly refers to his sports writing career as his “side hustle,” and his main occupation is as the Director of Parks and Recreation in Higginsville.

“I am looking forward to writing about Santa Fe sports as I know the history of athletics there is a rich one,” Dan said. “I am also excited about the recent sale of these newspapers as I believe they are vital institutions to small towns. Also, one last thing, Go Chiefs!”

To conclude, I’m technically going break our own rule here, but I need to thank everyone — subscribers, community members, businesses, clubs and organizations — all who have supported and continue to support the newspaper. We know good and well that the days of the newspaper providing “breaking news” are a thing of the past. But we believe the newspaper still serves a valid purpose. We are here to help connect members of the community, to educate and inform, to serve as a cheerleader and a watchdog, to promote and support the children, and to record what’s happening in our little towns…even when it’s not a lot!

We expect good things to come, so please bear with us!