Please bear with us while we debug.

By Alice Dreger, ELi's Publisher

If you read my message to readers from about two weeks ago, you know we’re dealing with a software challenge at the eastlansinginfo.news site. If things are looking a little different or a little odd at the site today, that’s why.

In 2020, we needed to update our site and we decided to use the Largo theme (customized WordPress software) of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). Unfortunately, just a couple of months later, INN decided to stop funding support for Largo.

Since that time, our tech managers Morgan Lees and Lisa Lees have been patching the system. In the background, Morgan has recently been preparing us for a shift to a new theme. In the middle of the night last night, they hit the switch to make the transition public.

The site is now showing bugs we somehow didn’t pick up in testing. For example, it’s showing that I’ve authored everything. It’s also doing weird things with images. These kinds of bugs are pretty normal with a transition, and we will work them out. We ask your patience as we do.

If you see a problem you’d like to report, use this form and choose the category “website problems.”

Earlier this week, we also ran into a bug at our eastlansinginsider.news newsletter. News items that were supposed to get emailed only to Insider members were going out to everyone. We apologize if that meant you were getting more email than you wanted from us. That bug has been fixed.

But we are dealing with two more bugs. Our managing editor, Julie Seraphinoff, has an intestinal bug. And I have a brain bug.

Even before everything went on fire here, I was working pretty hard for ELi. Now, I have headaches, vertigo, and low-level nightmares. Last night featured a visit to the Obamas’ house. The kitchen floor was sticky and a noisy group was in the auditorium, up on the stage, setting up a game of Cones of Dunshire. I was troubled that Barack is still smoking.

These physiological bugs mean we may not be able to deliver the news at the usual pace. I am going to do what I rarely do and take five sequential days off for my mental health, starting Saturday.

Please be kind to the ELi team while I am resting. Thanks for your support and understanding.