Regular readers of the Blue Mountain Eagle will no doubt have noticed that we’ve had just one staff reporter, Steven Mitchell, for quite some time now — since the beginning of June, in point of fact.

Steven has done a tremendous job for us, shouldering the burden of covering, well, pretty much everything that goes on around Grant County with energy and enthusiasm (and nary a whimper). 

Still, he’s just one person, and there are some stories we simply haven’t been able to cover due to a lack of resources.

Which is why I am extremely happy to announce the hiring of a second reporter, bringing our editorial staff back to full strength for the first time in nine months.

His name is Justin Davis. He’s a former freelance sportswriter for the Ontario paper now living in John Day,  and he’s just getting back into journalism after several years as a stay-at-home dad. 

He’ll be focusing primarily on covering sports and schools, at least to start, but he’s eager to branch out into covering other types of stories as well.

Not only will this take some of the workload off Steven’s broad shoulders, but it will enable us to get a broader range of local stories into the paper each week.

Coming up in this week’s edition, look for stories on the debate over high school graduation requirements, how area school districts are ramping up for the end of mask mandates and the status of John Day’s plans to replace the city’s aging wastewater treatment plant, among other topics.

Last week’s top stories included reports on plans to put a $4 million pool bond on the May ballot, a kerfuffle over a misleading weight limit sign on a John Day bridge, Grant Union High’s two state wrestling champions and the Grant Union Gold dance team.

As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support. We can’t do this work without you!