There will be no new column today, sorry. I considered either writing another precursor column to tonight's big speech (which would have wondered if Donald Trump was going to lay out a rationale for going to war with Iran, which we seem to be sleepwalking into), but then I decided the question will be answered before most people read the column, so it'd be kind of pointless. I also considered doing a snap-reaction blog post after the speech tonight, but decided I didn't have the energy to (since Trump is likely to speak for close to two hours -- meaning I couldn't even begin writing it until pretty late at night). So my apologies but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read my reactions to tonight's speech.

But I do have some good news for everyone! We are finally moving forward on the redesign of this site. Woo hoo! Right now a test bed is being prepared where changes can be made to everything (the look and feel of the site) using a copy of the database. The process has just begun, but in hopefully a very short while, I'll be able to share with you what the new site may look like. My plan is to let everyone in to the test bed setup, so you can all play around with it and suggest changes or improvements. It is pointless for you to do so now, because the test bed currently looks exactly like the old site, so there's nothing new for anyone to see or test yet.

In any case, I still wanted to update everyone and let people know that progress is finally being made. And that bigger news should be coming pretty soon, which will allow you to get a sneak peek at how the new site will look and operate. I will keep everyone posted as things progress, I promise. But I just wanted everyone to know that the first steps have been taken.

And I will see you all tomorrow, with my take on Trump's big speech.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant