diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 444685c..fe4b40e 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: sbtools
 Title: USGS ScienceBase Tools
 Maintainer: David Blodgett <dblodgett@usgs.gov>
-Version: 1.4.0
+Version: 1.4.1
 Authors@R: c(person("David", "Blodgett", role=c("cre"),
     email = "dblodgett@usgs.gov"),
     person("Luke", "Winslow", role = c("aut"),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 631c981..113df9c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# version 1.4.1
+
+- improved `item_rm_files()` to use the cloud file removal utility.  #334 and #336
+
 # version 1.4.0
 
 - removed `items_create()`, `items_upsert()`, and `items_update()` as they are no longer supported by sciencebase.