Do you think Gov. Kate Brown should do more to get schools to reopen? Do you think the state should do more to vaccinate seniors sooner? Do you think the state should look to speed up reopening of businesses?
Most Popular
Articles
- Winter's not over yet
- County in liability crosshairs with agreement
- Safeway receives COVID-19 vaccine through federal program
- County-raised filmmaker looks at wildfire impact in new film
- Wallowa County Voices: Moving here ‘just like moving home’
- Chief Joseph Days Rodeo will ride in 2021
- Enterprise, Wallowa schools closed Thursday due to COVID-19
- Weed control: A hard pull goes on
- Evans tops list of Elks scholarship winners
- Out of the Past: J.C. Penney store undergoing changes
Images
Videos
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
Oregon lawmakers at the state and national level do far more work regarding unintended consequences when they craft new legislation.
The news was about as exciting as a touchdown at a state championship football game.
State agencies don’t like to be on the receiving end of a zinging audit from the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown already has been under scrutiny for where she placed seniors in the vaccination timeline.
Whether at the state or national level, there has been ample criticism levied about the rollout of the two COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S.
The math is inexorable. Most Oregonians do have health care. The costs, though, keep going up faster than incomes. Gov. Kate Brown summed it up: “Per capita health care costs in Oregon are gro…
The news last week definitely was shocking — a health care worker in Wallowa County was hospitalized for several days after a severe allergic reaction to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
In today’s pop culture dominated climate, politicians rarely receive much thanks, but the work of U.S. Rep. Greg Walden stands out as a classic example of what an elected leader should do once…
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Dec. 17 extended her COVID-19 emergency order through March. She joins other governors in the region, Democrats and Republicans, in extending one-person rule.
Hope arrived Monday afternoon.
The Observer’s related publication, The Baker City Herald, recently asked Gov. Kate Brown’s office to explain why Oregon’s new risk level system for COVID-19 prohibits restaurants and bars fro…
Oregonians passed Measure 110 by a wide margin in November. It means decriminalization of personal possession of small amounts of illegal drugs, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and …
The next global pandemic looms. Will Oregon and the world be more prepared?
Recounts and legal challenges notwithstanding, it appears Joe Biden will be president on Jan. 20, 2021.
The news of skyrocketing numbers of COVID-19 infections across the United States is reminding us of the original meaning of the phrase “going viral.”
Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 race for the White House on Saturday, Nov. 7, four days after the election.
The last time we editorialized about how Oregon is moving slowly on helping families find child care that is safe and affordable, it got the attention of state Rep. Karin Power, co-chair of th…
Today’s edition of the Wallowa County Chieftain is the last one before next week’s general election.
In 2019 the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries released an investigation finding many instances of sexual harassment in the state Capitol. It was made worse by ineffective investigation of …
Imagine you were deprived easy access to a COVID-19 vaccine simply because you lived on the west bank of the Snake River rather than the east, in Oregon rather than in Idaho.
At the risk of being a tad bit early, we want to urge everyone in Wallowa County to vote.
Local manufacturing businesses and jobs have experienced a resurgence in recent years that needs to continue for our state’s livelihood and connection to the global economy.
Oregon’s September economic forecast was a big surprise: Instead of a coronavirus-caused $1 billion shortfall, the state predicts to end the 2019-21 budget with a leftover pile $1.7 billion high.
The sight was inspiring — a large American flag draped from the ladder of a fire truck outside of Enterprise City Hall on Friday, Sept. 11.
The Wallowa City Council made the right decision last week when it voted to authorize the sheriff’s office or a city official to issue citations regarding the city’s animal ordinance.
Leaders of Oregon’s rural counties are right to be worried by the state’s emerging Western Oregon State Forests Habitat Conservation Plan. It has the potential to further shrink the amount of …
As legislators across the nation grapple with revenue shortfalls caused by the shutdown and curtailment of businesses in their states, we would like to issue a plea.
Hats off to state officials who announced last week new metrics for some rural schools to reopen, effectively injecting a high degree of common sense to a situation that was rapidly becoming y…
While the COVID-19 pandemic gradually became a politicized issue and fights rage about masks, statistics and death rates, the real issue has faded into the general white noise of the modern Am…
Nobody seems eager to gauge Gov. Kate Brown’s latest COVID-19-related mandates draconian, and while such a description would be a bit over the top, the reality is the restrictions announced by…
The initiative to move Idaho’s border and include more than 18 Oregon counties received a big boost locally after enough signatures were gathered to get a petition on the November ballot in Wa…
To most likely no one’s surprise, the state budget wizards announced last week that a $400 million slash in spending will be necessary to offset a decline in tax revenues but what that will re…
Some members of the Wallowa County Search and Rescue had an eventful Fourth of July, and once again showed why the county is lucky to have these dedicated individuals to call upon.
The COVID-19 virus outbreak put unexpected pressure on an array of state and federal agencies and in at least one case, the compression created leaks that sprouted into wide fissures.
Ranchers in Oregon’s wolf country face a dilemma when their livestock or guard dog turns up dead or badly injured — report it to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and wait a day or two…
It’s remarkably easy in Oregon to find out when a doctor is disciplined. The Oregon Medical Board posts details on its website.
This past week has found most of us transfixed on the tragic, brutal, wanton death of George Floyd and the descent into national chaos that rapidly followed. Just when we thought we were on ou…
In journalism there is nothing more paramount than objectively telling the truth. Donald Swart, Sr., Chieftain editor and publisher, epitomized this value, along with a love and support of com…
We are all pulling at our tethers. Fettered, hobbled, and haltered by the coronavirus, we are beginning to rear back against our restraints. The sun is shining, the grass is green. Winter is p…
editor's pick
This week those slightly oversized thick white envelopes arrived in our mailboxes: our ballots. In the midst of a pandemic, we are privileged to be able to exercise the most important of right…
As the COVID-19 curve begins to flatten in Oregon, thoughts of partially “opening” Wallowa County and the state are bubbling to the surface like a stove pot about to boil. There is urgency her…
During this coronavirus pandemic, access to accurate and trustworthy information in your community is as critical to life under quarantine and as sought after as hand sanitizer and face masks.
During this coronavirus pandemic, access to accurate and trustworthy information in your community is as critical to life under quarantine and as sought after as hand sanitizer and face masks.
Earth Day began a half-century ago when oil spills and other environmental perils abounded. It remains a serious reminder for us, the stewards of this planet. It’s not just a single event, onc…
In his lengthy poem, A Servant to Servants, renowned poet Robert Frost penned the classic line “…the best way out is always through.” It’s a line appropriate for us today, as is the theme of t…
A fully functioning COVID-19 response requires access to a full data set
By now, even before the disease begins to peak in Oregon and rural America, we are all very tired of hearing about coronavirus, COVID-19, social distancing, and cancellations of seemingly ever…
Norma Paulus would be proud. And she would be amazed. As secretary of state from 1977 until 1985, Paulus was the prime mover of Oregon’s voting by mail. Other states have been slow to follow O…
COVID 19 on our doorstep:.
The State of Emergency: This is not Wallowa County’s first rodeo
‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller
When you are 136 years old, sometimes it’s hard to adapt to newfangled ways. The Chieftain published its first issue in 1884. A Jan. 7 1898 issue, yellowed, fragile and faded, is the oldest ed…
