We are almost a month into life here at the somewhat downsized GetReligion.org, with me working roughly half of the time — like in the blog’s first decade.

We are publishing less material and, frankly, there are times when it is agonizing to have to let some subjects and news articles pass without commentary (either positive or negative). We really do appreciate all of the story tips from readers. Keep them coming, even if we are not able to post about them.

We are still trying to figure out how to handle some items of business, especially without the regular work of Bobby Ross, Jr., and his Friday Five collective. His new “Weekend Plug-In” feature for Religion UnPlugged helps. But there are still times when we all think, “Oh, I’ll send that to Bobby for the Friday Five,” and then we have to say, “Oh, right.”

Not all of this material is light-hearted. Take, for example, this serious life-on-the-beat update from patriarch Richard Ostling — focusing on the health of his colleague Rachel Zoll, with whom he shared religion-beat duties for years at the Associated Press.

So here is the note from Ostling:

Along the beat: Our highly respected colleague, former AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll,  is still being treated for brain cancer. 

People who follow the religion beat closely will remember that she was suddenly stricken on Martin Luther King Day two years ago. However, this encouraging New Year's update was posted by her sister Cheryl: