As I’ve mentioned in this space before, the Blue Mountain Eagle is part of EO Media Group, a fourth-generation family business that owns a dozen community newspapers in Oregon and Southwest Washington, as well as a handful of specialty publications such as the Capital Press, which covers agricultural issues across the West. It’s a good company to work for, and we earned some bragging rights recently when Editor & Publisher magazine named EO Media one of its “10 News Publishers That Do It Right” for 2023.

E&P, the leading journal of the U.S. publishing industry, gave the company props for a number of innovative initiatives, including the Oregon Capital Bureau, a collaboration with Pamplin Media that stepped in to provide consistent coverage of the Legislature after the Associated Press slashed its statehouse coverage in Oregon; the Fund for Oregon Rural Journalism, a nonprofit that works to support the state’s rural newspapers; and the Rogue Valley Times, a startup newspaper created from scratch in just three weeks to fill the void left by the abrupt shutdown of the Mail Tribune newspaper in Medford.

It feels good for our company to get some national recognition for its efforts to keep journalism alive and well in these challenging times.

In case you missed it, last week’s Blue Mountain Eagle had some interesting reads on a number of topics, including opposition to the Greater Idaho movement, plans for a road district to keep more federal funding in Grant County coffers, a million-dollar grant for Prairie Wood Products, fun family Easter activities and the exploits of local high school track athletes. 

Stories we’re chasing for this week’s paper cover a wide array of subjects as well, from the latest historical discoveries abut Kam Wah Chung to shrinking enrollment at the Grant School District, the filling of the open seat on the John Day City Council and the district champion Grant Union golf team’s home tournament.

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

— Bennett Hall, Editor