diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index bebcedf46d..4e00142905 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -2,6 +2,28 @@ This file is used to auto-generate the "Changelog" section of Sopel's website.
 When adding new entries, follow the style guide in NEWS.spec.md to avoid
 causing problems with the site build.
 
+Changes between 7.1.4 and 7.1.5
+===============================
+
+Since 7.1.4 was released, an [expiring TLS root certificate][le-expiration]
+caused us some problems in the old CI system we're still using for Sopel 7.1.x
+to run tests against EOL versions of Python. Our workaround in [#2192][]
+(basically "Workaround 1" from [this OpenSSL blog post][openssl-102-fixes])
+might be of use to anyone still running Sopel on an old system.
+
+Core changes
+------------
+
+* Fixed incorrect behavior during unrecognized SASL authentication [[#2190][]]
+* Ignore case when checking config sections for "defined" settings [[#2193][]]
+
+[#2190]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2190
+[#2192]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2192
+[#2193]: https://github.com/sopel-irc/sopel/pull/2193
+[le-expiration]: https://letsencrypt.org/2021/10/01/cert-chaining-help.html
+[openssl-102-fixes]: https://www.openssl.org/blog/blog/2021/09/13/LetsEncryptRootCertExpire/
+
+
 Changes between 7.1.3 and 7.1.4
 ===============================
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index e6ca8d3abe..bbc516cd4a 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [metadata]
 name = sopel
-version = 7.1.5-dev
+version = 7.1.5
 description = Simple and extensible IRC bot
 long_description = file: README.rst
 long_description_content_type = text/x-rst