Welcome to AOL News. Over the last few months, we’ve overhauled our site and built a news operation that relies far less on wire reports and focuses instead on original reporting, analysis and commentary.

In late 2009, we began featuring those stories on Sphere.com, a site designed to showcase our exclusive stories. Our coverage on Sphere was received with such positive attention that in January 2010, we decided to fold it all into AOL News, a site we hope will become the place you go for news, analysis and opinion.

We've brought on more than 50 journalists from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Time, Atlantic, Forbes, National Geographic, ABC News, CBS News, NPR, Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg and other great news organizations. And our network of contributors around the world is expanding each week.

This site is just the beginning for us. We want to keep you informed, and we're working hard to create all sorts of new features.

Take a spin through stories. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

And let us know what you think.

Thanks for checking us out. There is much more to come.

- The AOL News Team