The Bee-Picayune has a new look online — and a new name to go with it.

MySouTex.com launches full force today encompassing not only the Bee-Picayune newspaper but also that of The (Three Rivers-George West) Progress and the Refugio County Press.

It seemed like a natural transition as all three papers are printed by Beeville Publishing Company. Co-Publisher Jeff Latcham, said, “We wanted to create a web site that provides all of the communities we serve an interactive place for community news and events.”

Chip Latcham, co-publisher, said, “It is definitely more user friendly, more interactive and has many more interesting features, including videos, calendar and feedback.

“We believe mySouTex.com will benefit the community in that it provides more immediate, comprehensive coverage across our region (Refugio, Bee, Live Oak and McMullen counties) and will offer our readers and advertisers a much better opportunity to connect with this vital part of South Texas.”

Those worried that these papers are going away in their printed form have nothing to be concerned with. Each will still be sold and delivered as usual.

Likewise, the original web sites will remain up and functioning for a little while longer.

“We chose to name it mySouTex.com because we wanted it to belong to the users and have tried to design it that way. We encourage folks to explore it with the idea of how they can make it work for them,” said Jeff Latcham.

The online combination is an effort to make finding and reading news in the digital era more convenient.

But this site is about more than just news. It is about you, the reader.

In addition to updates daily on breaking news, the site also allows anyone to comment on stories, post upcoming events through our calendar or write a blog.

We are inviting all aspiring writers to start their blogs about whatever topic is of interest.

There is no limit.

We do ask that you keep it clean. If you don’t, the public has the ability to report violations, such as profanity, obscenity or libelous statements to the editors here.

You, our readers, will be the moderators. This is your online community. We are just providing the space.

“We’re not done yet either. This has so many functional options to benefit the community, it’s something of a work in progress,” Jeff Latcham said.

It is best to call this a beta site as there are still a few bugs to work out. So if you find something that could use improvement, please let us know and we will do our best to fix the problem.

Navigating the unfamiliar

News from all three papers will post on the home page. But, if you want specific stories for each county, tabs at the top of the page will take you to the top news of each paper.

Likewise, each county also has local news not listed on the home page along with school, entertainment and farm news.

We have set up in sections much like the paper is now..

One benefit of this online edition is that, unlike the printed paper, space is not a factor.

Additional photos not seen in the paper will be posted with the stories.

Couple this with a multitude of videos from the staff here and we hope this will keep you coming back.

One new feature

Blogging has come to the paper and everyone is invited.

But first – what is a blog?

A blog, simply put, is your thoughts on an event or simply an update about what is going on in your life. It is your personal letter to the world about what you are feeling, thinking or experiencing.

Blogging is easy.

First, create your user profile from the link at the top right of mySouTex.com and then, under the community link, click blogs and away you go.

What else is new?

There is more to come – comments, videos, slideshows...

Videos will go online as quickly as we edit and paste them together.

This means you can still catch the highlights of Friday’s football game or the Thursday night volleyball match.

A new marketplace has been added so finding restaurants and businesses will all be in one spot and up-to-date.