Dear gainesvilletimes.com reader:

As a registered user of our website, you have had the ability to sign up for breaking news alerts to be delivered to your selected e-mail address.

We are writing you today to explain changes and upgrades to our breaking news services and the steps needed to continue receiving such alerts.

Our new Times To Go service adds the ability to customize your alerts and to have them sent to you as text messages on mobile devices in addition to any e-mail address you specify.

To continue to receive alerts, you will need to fill out a quick and easy submission form to tell us about your choices.

Among our new offerings:

• News: Get breaking news for Northeast Georgia.
• Severe Weather Alerts: Get severe weather advisories and warnings by county.
• Daily Weather Forecast: Receive the local weather forecast each morning at 7 a.m.
• Community Information: Get reminders for local events.
• Sports News: Get news and scores from all your favorite area teams
• School Emergencies and Notices: Get important information from your school.

Once again, please make your selections using our submission form.

We will discontinue sending breaking news alerts using our older system on Sept. 19.

If you have questions, please contact me at mbeard@gainesvilletimes.com.

With best regards,

Michael R. Beard, Times new media editor