Judge Thad Heartfield stepped down after five years as chief judge effective December 31, 2008. His good friend, David Folsom of Texarkana, became our chief judge effective January 1, 2009. Judge Heartfield's status as an active district judge will remain the same. He led the court through many significant changes as chief judge, including the vigorous implementation of electronic filing, the addition of several new judicial officers (including a magistrate judgeship in Marshall and a second magistrate judgeship in the Sherman Division), the opening of a new courthouse in Plano, the increasing growth and success of annual Bench/Bar meetings and the adept handling of emergencies in Beaumont created by Hurricanes Rita and Ike. He also successfully fought to secure approval of an additional Sherman district judgeship on two occasions. The current version of this request is likely to be approved by the U.S. Judicial Conference in March.