diff --git a/Data/News.lua b/Data/News.lua
index 25ab2b4f..1f0ce6e4 100644
--- a/Data/News.lua
+++ b/Data/News.lua
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ local CraftSim = select(2, ...)
 
 CraftSim.NEWS = {}
 
+local print = CraftSim.UTIL:SetDebugPrint(CraftSim.CONST.DEBUG_IDS.NEWS)
+
 ---@param itemMap table<string, ItemMixin>
 function CraftSim.NEWS:GET_NEWS(itemMap)
     -- minimize names to make manual formatting easier :p
@@ -123,11 +125,19 @@ function CraftSim.NEWS:GetChecksum(newsText)
     local checksum = 0
     local checkSumBitSize = 256
 
+    -- replace each itemLink with a generic string so there are no differences between characters in the checksum
+    -- for _, item in pairs(itemMap) do
+    -- end
+    newsText = string.gsub(newsText, "|cff%x+|Hitem:.+|h|r", "[LINK]")
+
     -- Iterate through each character in the string
     for i = 1, #newsText do
         checksum = (checksum + string.byte(newsText, i)) % checkSumBitSize
     end
 
+    -- print("replacing links in newstext:")
+    -- print(newsText)
+
     return checksum
 end
 
@@ -155,6 +165,7 @@ function CraftSim.NEWS:ShowNews(force)
            return 
         end
     
+        print("showing news, old / new cs: " .. tostring(CraftSimOptions.newsChecksum) .. "/" .. tostring(newChecksum))
         CraftSimOptions.newsChecksum = newChecksum
     
         local infoFrame = CraftSim.GGUI:GetFrame(CraftSim.MAIN.FRAMES, CraftSim.CONST.FRAMES.INFO)
diff --git a/Util/Const.lua b/Util/Const.lua
index 64b5abfd..a3e254d0 100644
--- a/Util/Const.lua
+++ b/Util/Const.lua
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ CraftSim.CONST.DEBUG_IDS = {
     PRICE_APIS = "PRICE_APIS",
     CONTROL_PANEL = "CONTROL_PANEL",
     CRAFTQ = "CRAFTQ",
+    NEWS = "NEWS",
 }
 
 CraftSim.CONST.ERROR = {