>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

High school sophomores and juniors from across the state have been invited to attend a program at Eastern Oregon University designed to help them start thinking about their futures.

More than 200 students have already signed up for the “Discover Your Future” event on May 15. The EOU Admissions Office is expecting to draw 300 high schoolers. Registration closes Monday.

Republican Sen. John McCain may have effectively locked up his party’s nomination for the 2008 presidential race, but there’s still thriving competition between the Democratic contenders, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

And because of that fierce contest, Oregon’s looming primary — one of the last in the country — is casting a far broader shadow than usual.

The new Department of Veterans Affairs medical clinic on 12th Street in La Grande has 8,800 square feet and may be completed by the end of May. - Observer photos/DICK MASON

The new Department of Veterans Affairs clinic on 12th Street in La Grande opens in about a month, VA officials told an audience of about 165 Tuesday at the Blue Mountain Conference Center.

The target date for the opening is May 30, said Sharon Helman, director of the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center in Walla Walla. 

ELGIN — The five candidates vying for a single seat coming open on the Union County Board of Commissioners sat down for a chat at the Elgin Opera House Tuesday, taking part in a candidates’ forum sponsored by the Union County Farm Bureau.

Forum organizer Rich Zinzer said at the outset the forum was intended to introduce the candidates to the public rather than foster heated debate over issues. Before a crowd of about 20 people, the event unfolded according to that scenario

IMBLER — A healthy crowd gathered Tuesday night in the Imbler High School gym to hear more about Union County’s proposed purchase of acreage on Mount Emily to create a recreation area.

The meeting was the second and final information session scheduled regarding the proposal, which the county is seeking an advisory vote on in the May 20 primary.

The panel of presenters included Union County Planner Hanley Jenkins and county commissioners Nellie Hibbert, Colleen MacLeod and Steve McClure, and Mt. Emily Recreation Area Coalition member Bart Barlow. The session was mediated by Meg Valentine.

Chef’s assistant Tawny Laurence checks the seskoula yiahni me feta or Swiss chard with celery and feta, while Chef Merlyn Baker turns the skartsotsetta or stuffed beef rolls in aromatic tomato sauce and checks the sear. - The Observer/EDEN KRUGER

Merlyn Baker, chef and owner of Foley Station Restaurant, has been teaching a series of cooking classes focused on Greek food at the school.

The floodwaters receded seven months ago but the people of Northern Ghana still need a hand — now almost more than ever.

EOU students Doctor Ayeliya and Patrice Nya are rushing in to provide it. Ayeliya and Nya are helping start the Sabu Help Fundraising Project to assist Africa’s needy.

On the surface it did not appear to be anything major.

Beneath the surface, though, it may have meant everything.

Umatilla educator Carter Wells was at Union High School patiently waiting to be interviewed for the principal’s position.

A car that plowed into a concrete planter in front of Cove High School Monday evening narrowly missed crashing through the front doors of the school where teachers and students still gathered. The driver, whose name has not been released, was transported to Grande Ronde Hospital by ambulance. No other details on him were available Tuesday morning. - The Observer/MARDI FORD

The driver, whose name has not been released, was transported to Grande Ronde Hospital by ambulance. Fortunately no one else was injured. The car’s air bags had deployed and the driver was wearing his seat belt.