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JOSEPH — Northeast Oregon schools are coming together to support one of their own in the wake of Thursday’s fire that caused significant damage to the gymnasium at Joseph Charter School.
Sean Burton made this large snowman Sunday afternoon in about 45 minutes at his home on N Avenue and First Street in La Grande with help from his wife, Carly. The snowman, shown here Thursday …
SALEM — One question has lingered in political circles in the days since Democratic legislators unveiled their latest plan to limit the state's greenhouse gas emissions.
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BAKER CITY — Rick Dancer likes to tell stories, and some of his favorite chapters are from Eastern Oregon.
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LA GRANDE — A mineral best known for adding zest to meals is being welcomed again this winter by motorists who have no taste for adventuresome driving.
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LA GRANDE — Nadine McCrindle hasn’t been with the Red Cross for very long, but she’s facing a challenge.
JOSEPH — Joseph Charter School students were enjoying a leisurely lunch Thursday when they found their world turned upside down.
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MILTON-FREEWATER — A recent spate of crime led residents of Milton-Freewater to start a citizens' patrol and brought them to city council on Monday to request the support of the city.
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ELGIN — The Union County Sheriff's Office made three arrests in Elgin the second week of January.
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LA GRANDE — The Blue Mountain Conference Center is on the hunt for new management.
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LA GRANDE — Home delivery of the Wednesday edition of the Observer will not arrive until tonight or Thursday morning.
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JOSEPH — Every winter the remote mountains of Northeast Oregon draw backcountry skiers and snowmobilers from around the West. For the last 10 years the Wallowa Avalanche Center has been winter…
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LA GRANDE — Winter has definitely arrived in Northeast Oregon. With several inches of snow blanketing most of the Grande Ronde Valley, there is plenty of packed powder to play in, along with a…
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LA GRANDE — Electronic message boards almost larger than life soon may save lives on Interstate 84 between La Grande and Pendleton.
In this Dec. 29, 1930, file photo Rae Samuels holds the last bottle of beer that was distilled before prohibition went into effect in Chicago. The bottle of Schlitz has been insured for $25,000.
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PENDLETON — An insect-spread virus decimated the white-tailed deer population across much of Umatilla County.
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LA GRANDE — The Union County Chamber of Commerce has ended its contract for managing the Blue Mountain Conference Center. And the Blue Mountain Conference Center Foundation Board of Directors …
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SALEM — A federal appeals court has rejected an environmentalist challenge to a 2,000-acre forest thinning project along 11 miles of the Lostine River in Northeast Oregon.
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BAKER CITY — A local man died Saturday after an avalanche hit him and his snowmobile high in the Elkhorn Mountains.
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LA GRANDE — Bad weather prevented many people in Union County from traveling Saturday, but it did not stop eight La Grande residents from taking a journey into an ancient, spiritual space.
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LA GRANDE — The National UFO Reporting Center reported more accounts of unusual aerial phenomena in Oregon in 2019 than 2018, but accounts from Eastern Oregon almost fell out of sight.
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LA GRANDE — The Union County Board of Commissioners voted Friday at an emergency meeting to reinstate the non-financial portion of the county's new right-of-way ordinance.
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LA GRANDE — The winter weather knocked out power Sunday in portions of the Grande Ronde Valley.
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LA GRANDE — La Grande High School students were treated to a special lunch Thursday from corporate chef Chris Murray. District staff, students and faculty served dishes inspired by Murray's tr…
Local meetings
LA GRANDE — Nicole Lewis went from the stages of La Grande to the stages of Nashville, Tennessee. She returned to her hometown for a pub talk Thursday night at Side A Brewing to share her expe…
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LA GRANDE — The Union County Board of Commissioners suspended a new right-of-way ordinance Wednesday after representatives of two utilities expressed concerns.
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SALEM — Proponents of two clean-energy initiatives on Wednesday sued Secretary of State Bev Clarno to reverse her decision stopping the groups from advancing initiatives for the November election.
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LA GRANDE — Flu shots remain available for those who may need them and, according to local data, people do.
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PORTLAND — A new study finds that the costs to farmers and the region’s economy if the four dams on the lower Snake River were removed would average roughly $76 million a year.
ELGIN — Union County Sheriff Boyd Rasmussen said the reports of a break-in at the Elgin fire hall were not quite spot-on.
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SALEM — Less than a month before legislators convene again, a new proposal to cap Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions is taking firmer shape.
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PENDLETON — The psychiatric patient who went missing from a residential treatment facility in Pendleton on Sunday remains at large, according to Pendleton Police Department Chief Stuart Roberts.
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LA GRAND — Recruitment of 2020 Census takers is underway in La Grande. But neither Union County nor the city of La Grande are doing much about obtaining an accurate count of the population eve…
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UNION COUNTY — Union County law enforcement officers cracked down on distracted drivers Monday.
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LA GRANDE — Getting a grip on winter is sometimes as easy as flipping a switch for Daniel Bolen, an agriculture sciences teacher at Elgin High School who doubles as a substitute school bus driver.
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The Observer in January 2019 spoke with local government officials about their goals for the coming year. We re-visited with some of those officials during the first week of 2020 to find out i…
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ELGIN — Jeff Smith, an Elgin computer programmer running for Congress, believes his campaign is moving in the right direction.
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LA GRANDE — Snowfall early this week in Eastern Oregon’s mountain ranges could total 4-12 inches.
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LA GRANDE — Oregon bicyclists enter the new year with a new option — the Idaho stop.
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LA GRANDE — La Grande welcomed its newest resident Thursday at 2:54 a.m.
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Ryan Caldwell of La Grande Sunday afternoon dumps a load of rock, gravel and dirt into a truck near the Interstate 84 exit 259 to La Grande. Caldwell works for the Oregon Department of Transpo…
Parents Cody Haycock and Jaime Thiess, with big sister, Rikilynn, welcomed a baby boy on Jan. 2 at the Grande Ronde Hospital Family Birthing Center, making Wyatt Haycock the 2020 New Year’s Baby.
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LA GRANDE — The outlook for the Union County Warming Station is brightening.