May 05, 2009 03:12 pm
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We live in an increasingly interconnected world. All one has to do is look at the patterns on swine flu outbreak to see how the connections between Hong Kong and Honolulu, between Shanghai and Seattle, between Mexico City and Medford have become more intertwined.
And swine flu is not just a Mexico problem. It’s all of our problem. The outbreak has the potential of hitting close to home, as we realized Saturday when we learned that “probable’’ cases existed in Wallowa and Umatilla counties.
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May 04, 2009 03:39 pm
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Throw a tea party, overthrow a government, start a new government, wait 236 years, throw another tea party. What comes around goes around. History repeats itself.
Sort of.
That original tea party in Boston back in 1773 was quite the affair, what with all those radicals rushing through the streets of the city, boarding British ships and throwing taxed tea into the harbor. A bit extreme, perhaps, but it got a message across.
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April 30, 2009 03:29 pm
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Editor’s note: The following editorial was written before Wednesday’s announcement that Boise Casade would be closing its La Grande sawmill.
The nation is teetering on the brink of an economic depression. Millions of jobs have been lost. Businesses are filing for bankruptcy. Some are closing. Corporate profits have nosedived, as have tax revenues that provide for public services. And millions of people have lost their homes.
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April 27, 2009 02:55 pm
The Oregon FFA Convention in La Grande last month was a textbook lesson
in how to do things up big. Those who attended had plenty to do and
see, and they felt right at home. For that, convention organizers and
the community in general deserve a pat on the back.
Attracting more than 2,000 people from points all across the state, the
event was a stellar opportunity to show off La Grande’s good side. If
2,000 people walked away with a positive impression — and all
indications are that they did — the community will benefit for a long
time to come in a lot of ways, including future state conventions and
other youth groups who now might consider La Grande.
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April 22, 2009 03:22 pm
The Wallowa-Union Railroad Authority recently signed a deal with Union
Pacific to provide railroad car storage along the WURA line. The
contract could be the economic salvation for the publicly owned line,
providing as much as $2.1 million over the next three years.
The contract is good news for the railroad. The contract could provide
the financial lift WURA has been needing since Wallowa and Union
counties decided several years ago to save the rail line between the
two counties.
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April 16, 2009 04:48 pm
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Northeast Oregon has a lot of strengths. They include a low crime rate, plentiful and diverse species of trees, the educational hub that is Eastern Oregon University, natural beauty and so on. Another of its strengths might soon be agri-tourism.
For years we’ve been losing young people to higher paying jobs in the cities. Now it’s time to begin attracting some of those people back. Sure, it might not be as long-term residents. But it could at least be as agri-tourists. There’s a reason so many city residents hanker for gardening space or to raise animals. It’s their deep down ties to the land.
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April 15, 2009 04:18 pm
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The news from the La Grande School District last week was sobering. The
district, under the state’s best- and worst-case scenarios for
anticipated revenue for the next biennium, will see at least $1.2
million and as much as $2.8 million cut from its $15 million annual
budget. A district the size of La Grande can’t make those kinds of cuts
without impacting the quality of our kids’ educational experience.
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April 14, 2009 03:44 pm
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The economy is dressed in wolf’s clothing, and many people fear for their livelihoods. It’s no wonder there is so much fear about what the future might bring. However, there are glimmers of hope. On one hand, we see recreations of Titanic first-class dinners drawing sellout crowds. On the other hand, we see trailer factories go belly up, putting many hardworking Northeast Oregonians out of a job. For some people, economic angst is just a headline. For others, it’s a way of life.
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April 13, 2009 05:29 pm
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Today La Grande welcomes a new police chief to the community.
Brian Harvey, who recently was the lieutenant of the Baker City Police
Department, today takes the reins of the La Grande Police Department.
Hopes are riding high that Harvey will lead the La Grande force into a
new era, one that combines the best practices of law enforcement along
with the need to build community relations, to become more transparent
and develop a department that everyone — employees included — can be
proud of.
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Opinion 
