Baker County's snowpack has improved considerably since the first of the year.

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

As February dawned, the weather in Baker County looked pretty much as it did  a month ago.

Uneventful, in a word, with no significant storms in the forecast.

The area snowpack, by contrast, scarcely resembles its former self.

Which is a good thing if you happen to appreciate water.

The mountain snowpack — the largest and most important reservoir for this arid region — was a scrawny thing when January made its debut.

By CHRIS COLLINS

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Most Baker County schools recorded a higher four-year graduation rate than the 67 percent state average for the 2010-11 school year, according to statistics released by the Oregon Department of Education.

One big exception was the Huntington School District, which shows a graduation rate of just 23.53 percent, according to ODE. That's based on the four students who graduated from a 19-student group who started high school together in 2007-08. The statistics compiled by the state show that just two of those students transferred to other districts, leaving 13 unaccounted for.

It took first-year Superintendent Scott Bullock a minute to understand the discrepancy himself, knowing that all four students who were expected to graduate from Huntington High School last year did so.

And then it came to him.

A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a poacher who killed a bighorn sheep ram in the Lookout Mountain Wildlife Management Unit in late December has been increased from $3,000 to $5,600.

The Oregon State Police (OSP) Fish and Wildlife Division is continuing to ask for the public's help in identifying the people  responsible for poaching the ram, taking the horns and leaving the body to waste, OSP Lt. Randy Scorby said in a press release.

Brock Eckstein of Elgin talked to the group about his Middle East service and injuries. He was wounded approximately two years ago while serving with the U.S. Army. He now serves with the Oregon National Guard.

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

A meeting Tuesday focused on helping troops who have recently returned from duty in the Middle East readjust to life outside of the battle zone.

More than 60 people gathered at the National Guard Armory in Baker City for a “Reintegration Summit.” Many attendees are law enforcement personnel and other first responders. But people who provide a variety of support services also were in attendance. 

Some of the speakers are members of the Joint Transition Assistance Program Team, which is part of the Oregon Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program sponsored by the Department of Defense. Others who provided information are knowledgeable about the subject because they have contact with veterans and their families professionally or personally.

By JAYSON JACOBY

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Baker City officials are working on a revision of the ordinance regulating construction of homes and other buildings in the floodplain, but the changes aren't likely to have major effects for property owners.

In fact many of the estimated 550 people who own property within the 100-year floodplain won't be affected at all.

That's because the new ordinance, the first update of the regulations since 2002, will apply only to structures built after the amended ordinance takes effect, and to buildings that undergo major renovation, City Planner Jenny Long said.

By CHRIS COLLINS

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Baker City Police have arrested a man they believe is part of a counterfeiting ring that’s been passing fake money in the community for the past two weeks.

James Davis Hume, 31, was taken into custody at 7:24 p.m. Tuesday. He is being held at the Baker County Jail on two counts of first-degree forgery.

Hume had been living in a local motel. It's not clear where his permanent address is.

Caleb Black, 5, of Union gets a tow up-slope to a rope tow from instructor Christian Miles during ski lessons Friday morning.

For the Baker City Herald

Temperatures below 10 degrees on Friday didn’t deter more than 200 youngsters from bundling up and hitting the slopes at Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort.

Of course, the cold doesn’t matter much when you’re maneuvering skis and snowboards up and down the hill.

Every Friday, students from Baker, John Day, North Powder and Cove board buses for the program “Ski for the Health of It” that began Jan. 6. It is for students from grades 1 to 12.

By TERRI HARBER

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Oregon Employment Development Department created a report about the jobs outlook for Eastern Oregon as well as the rest of the state.

The report was presented last week to members of Baker County’s Economic Development Commission. 

Overall “it wasn’t total gloom and doom,” said Craig Ward, chairman of the commission, of the report that offered information about the recent past and projections reaching to the end of the decade.

A significant portion of Eastern Oregon’s recent job losses are seasonal, and the numbers should rebound as businesses gear up for busier periods, Ward said.

Here are some of the statistics compiled by Andrew Crollard, the EDD’s Workforce analyst:

Baker County’s unemployment rate was higher than the state average in December: 11.3 percent compared to the 8.9 percent. Baker County’s rate was similar to the state average through much of this past summer, and lower than the state average during a significant portion of 2010.

Neah Thomas went with a peacock theme.

For the Baker City Herald

HAINES — Pirates, owls, monsters, princesses with pink skirts — have potatoes every taken on so many appearances?

Elementary students in the Baker School District were encouraged to take a potato home this month and decorate it however they liked to create a work of art.

“I made one, an example for the kids — a ‘cowch’ potato,” said Linda Hatfield at Haines School. (The potato, dressed as a cow, lounges on a couch.)

By TERRI HARBER

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

A possible plan to keep Justice Court operating will be discussed during the next Baker County commissioners meeting.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Baker County Courthouse, 1995 Third St.

Commission Chairman Fred Warner Jr. is seeking public opinion about a concept that would cut the cost of running the court. It would cut the hours of operation by permanently moving misdemeanor cases to the Baker County Circuit Court, and make the incoming justice of the peace position half-time.

Having the justice of the peace work only about 20 hours a week and reducing that person's benefits to a commensurate level would save the county about $50,000 per year, Warner said.