The Times is going mobile.

With the new Times To Go service, which launches today, readers can get the latest breaking news, severe weather alerts, sports scores and more sent to your mobile phone via text messages from The Times, Northeast Georgia's award-winning source of local news.

Previously, The Times made its breaking news alerts available to readers through e-mail. Now, alerts can go directly to the text message function on your mobile phone. The new feature was launched in conjunction with the newspaper's more user-friendly website redesign.

"This is an exciting opportunity for The Times to expand our brand to yet another platform and reach the growing population of people who get news and information from their smart phones," said Mitch Clarke, executive editor of The Times.

More than a dozen categories of alerts are available to readers, Clarke said. The service is also available to people who prefer to receive alerts by e-mail instead of by text message.

Signing up for the feature is simple. Readers should visit gainesvilletimes.com/alerts, type in their cell phone number or e-mail address (depending on the type of alert they want to get) and select the types of alerts they want to receive.

Those categories include breaking news, severe weather alerts in 10 counties, the daily weather forecast, community information, school news and closings and local sports news and scores. You can also sign up to get local entertainment news and a recipe of the week.

Times To Go is another information service provided by The Times that allows readers to stay connected with the community wherever they are.

"We're proud that so many people turn to our print edition to get their news," Clarke said. "But with our website and now with Times To Go, we're able to reach more people with news from Northeast Georgia's most dependable news team."