As an editor, my focus is primarily on the editorial side of the operation — the news stories, features, sports coverage, columns and opinion pieces that fill up each week’s edition. But newspapers deliver value through their advertising content as well. Advertisers, obviously, benefit from getting their message in front of their target market, the newspaper readers of Grant County. But readers benefit as well. Studies have consistently shown that many readers subscribe to or purchase the paper specifically for the advertising content.

Advertising can benefit the community as well. Last week I mentioned Giving Back, our annual special section focusing on Grant County nonprofits. Another prime example is Think Pink, a one-page promotion we do every October. The brainchild of our ad manager, Kim Kell, Think Pink started as a way to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer patients during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In recent years Kim has expanded that vision to include another October cause, domestic violence prevention. Each year the newspaper donates half of the ad sales from the page to one or the other of those two causes, and Kim donates half her commission. This year, 23 local businesses and nonprofits stepped up to show their support, raising just over $1,300 for breast cancer programs. We thanked them all by name in a house ad in last week’s paper, and I’ll say it again: thank you all for your generous support.

We had a little seasonal fun on last week’s front page with a lead photo of “the Halloween house,” the Prairie City residence of Shawna and Jamey Clark, who go all out with the decorations every year (“Ghostbusters” was the theme for 2022), as well as a story from our sister publication the Capital Press about the fascinating world of giant pumpkin breeding. Other stories focused on campaign visits by gubernatorial candidates Betsy Johnson and Donice Smith, the start of the Tyler Smith trial and what will happen to a $2 million state grant if the pool bond fails. 

Coming up this week, look for updates on the Smith trial, the burn boss arrest and the Prairie City football team’s postseason run, as well as a story on a state ethics investigation of a John Day city councilor.

And don’t forget to check our website on election night for results of local races in the Nov. 8 election. We’ll start posting stories as soon as the results are in, which should be shortly after 8 p.m.

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