I hope you’ve taken note of the enterprise stories from EO Media Group that we’ve been running each week, generally across the bottom of Page One. EO Media, of course, is our parent company, a family-owned enterprise that operates 11 newspapers in Oregon, including six in the upper right corner of the state. 

In recent months we’ve begun leveraging the combined skill sets of our Northeast Oregon newsrooms to tackle some of the bigger stories that impact our region. To do that, we’ve formed regional reporting teams to delve deeply into coverage areas ranging from education to government and politics, housing and homelessness, natural resources and social issues. 

Last week, for instance, we ran an 85-column-inch story on the latest attempt at a forest plan revision happening in the Malheur, Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman national forests. That story was written by the natural resources team, drawn from EO Media newsrooms in Baker City, Pendleton and Enterprise.

The week before, the Eagle’s Justin Davis teamed up with Berit Thorson of the East Oregonian on a story about how Eastern Oregon University and Blue Mountain Community College are addressing student hunger. And the week before that, our Neil Nisperos partnered with Laura Kostad, who works for several EO Media publications, to examine how school districts across Northeast Oregon are combating student vaping on campus. 

In the weeks and months ahead, you’ll continue to see in-depth stories like these on a wide range of topics as the Eagle joins forces with our news partners around the region to dig into the stories that matter most to people in Northeast Oregon. Grant County continues to be — and will always be — our top coverage priority here at the Blue Mountain Eagle. But by combining resources with other EO Media Papers, we can expand the depth and breadth of our reporting. 

Got an idea for a story you’d like our regional reporting teams to dig into? Email it to me at editor@bmeagle.com. We’ll look into it.

In case you missed it, last week’s edition featured stories about this year’s Carrie Young Memorial Dinner and Auction, plans to backfill ODOT’s snowplowing budget, construction projects in the Grant School District, holiday happenings in Mt. Vernon and the season-opening showdowns between the boys and girls basketball teams for Grant Union and Prairie City.  

Coming up this week, look for stories about this year’s Timber Truckers Light Parade, the upcoming John Day mayoral recall election, a new entrant in the race for county judge, new owners at Pioneer Feed and Seed, and more.

And thanks for reading.

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If you’ve been having trouble reading the Blue Mountain Eagle online lately, we sincerely apologize! We recently completed some work on our website, but in the process it appears we have inadvertently created some digital access issues for some of our subscribers.

For some people, the solution may be as simple as clearing the cache on your web browser or rebooting your computer. If that doesn’t work, please contact our circulation department at 800-781-3214 or support@eomediagroup.com for help. We want you to have full access to all the rich online content you’re entitled to with your print or digital subscription to the Eagle!

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If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to register your subscription for digital access to the Blue Mountain Eagle. Call 800-781-3214 to talk to one of our customer service staff, who will be happy to walk you through the process. It’s easy, takes just a few moments to get set up and allows you to take advantage of our e-edition, app and website delivery along with your print subscription.

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As always, if you have comments or questions about the Eagle, or want to pass along a story idea, send me an email at this address: editor@bmeagle.com.

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Finally, if you’d like to help support our independent local journalism, please consider subscribing to the newspaper. And if you’re already a subscriber, please accept our heartfelt thanks — we can’t do this work without you!

— Bennett Hall, Editor