The first regional East Oregonian print edition is out the door, and now we’re working on this week’s paper.

Getting here was tough, no way to sugarcoat that, but we applied criticism from the former weekend paper to make the EO a truly regional paper. We held a “postmortem,” if you will, to go over what we can do better going forward and to emphasize what to keep on doing.

After announcing the EO would change to a regional paper with content from the Hermiston Herald, The Observer, the Baker City Herald, the Blue Mountain Eagle and the Wallowa County Chieftain, we heard from a few subscribers expressing skepticism about whether we would represent their communities in print.

We took that seriously and had news from throughout Northeastern Oregon in the paper.

We nixed dedicating pages to news from a given county.

Instead, we decided the most significant news and the news stories with the best photo packages would get priority and go on the front page. From there, we filled our inside pages with news ,from local government coverage to features on interesting people, no matter the county.

That was just the A section. We have a section for Outdoors & Recreation and a section for Business & Agriculture. The EO continues to carry our weekly Go! Eastern Oregon magazine, but now also includes the monthly Eastern Oregon Parent magazine. This paper has a “thump” factor now.

All of this, however, remains a work in progress. You, our readers, remain our most important critics, so please, share your thoughts about this new regional paper with us. If we can make the EO better, we will.

Going regional also means your digital subscription access has been expanded to include the East Oregonian, La Grande Observer, Hermiston Herald, Baker City Herald, Wallowa County Chieftain, and Blue Mountain Eagle.

For all digital access:

• Register your account on every site you wish to read with the same email address and password you currently use.

• Once you’ve registered, enter your user name and password to enjoy the full range of content on that news site.

• You should not have to log in again unless you log out, clear history or experience software updates.

• Save your password when prompted by your browser and if you are inadvertently logged out, your browser can fill in your login and password for you. (Only use this option on your personal digital devices.)

To view the latest e-Editions, be sure to register your account and sign in to www.eastoregonian.com.

Sign up for e-newsletters from each website by going to the “Email lists” link on your account dashboard for each site.

Thank you for supporting local journalists in Eastern Oregon.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us by phone at 800-781-3214 or by email at support@eomediagroup.com.

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If you have a subscription but you’re still having trouble accessing our content on the internet, check out our online help center (you can get there by clicking on the question mark in the upper right hand corner of the nav bar on the Eagle’s home page, www.bluemountaineagle.com).

There you’ll find step-by-step instructions for dealing with some common challenges, such as how to log in, how to reset your password and how to register your print subscription to unlock full access to all our digital content.

If you still need help, contact our Circulation Department at 800-781-3214 or support@eomediagroup.com. We have team members standing by to assist you in taking full advantage of all your subscription benefits.

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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.

— Bennett Hall, Editor