Editorials

Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash lays out a convincing case for killing all the wolves in the Lookout Mountain pack in his recent letter to Curt Melcher, director of the Oregon Department of Fi…

No student attending Baker High School now had yet been born on that sunny September morning that changed America forever.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown welcomed students back to their schools Tuesday, Sept. 7 with the equivalent of scrawling F’s on their report cards and sending them straight to the principal’s office.

The resolution of the criminal case against Shawn Quentin Greenwood in the January 2020 shooting death of Angela Parrish in Baker City might have failed to satisfy anyone, regardless of their …

It was a very bad place for a wildfire.

Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash has many commendable attributes — he has a knack for finding missing people, to cite one noteworthy example — but he hasn’t previously been known for his writin…

Gov. Kate Brown has a laudable goal: To boost Oregon’s COVID-19 vaccination rate among health care and school workers.

The day when Baker students walk into their schools with nothing to obscure their smiling faces (or frowning, perhaps, depending on how the morning has gone) will be a welcome sight indeed.

Baker County can’t fairly be branded as an anti-vaccine place, in the broadest sense.

It is not a political scandal by any means, but the recent news Gov. Kate Brown spent a large chunk of taxpayer dollars to pay one of her former advisers to serve as a political consultant lea…

In late July, our school-age children and youth were once again thrust into the center of the COVID-19 pandemic when Gov. Kate Brown ordered new mask mandates for K-12 students.

The announcement this winter that the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, one of Baker County’s most popular visitor attractions, would be closed for about two and a half years for renovations n…

The Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 website is a cornucopia of data, a wealth of graphs, charts and other information.

It wasn’t state officials. It wasn’t our elected governor, nor our elected state representatives.

The delta variant has temporarily interrupted what had been a relatively tranquil period in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) was wise to authorize the killing of up to four wolves from the Lookout Mountain pack in eastern Baker County. According to ODFW investigation…

The demise of the COVID-19 pandemic has been greatly exaggerated.

During another fiery summer across the West, Baker County is faring well.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality ought to apologize to Baker County. And to Commission Chairman Bill Harvey in particular.

Miners Jubilee wouldn’t have been the same without the parade.

Baker City’s water supply situation would be troubling if today were Sept. 10.

With statewide COVID-19 restrictions ending June 30, much of the private sector quickly reacted. Restaurants no longer had to leave tables empty. Churches returned to regular in-person worship…

We have much to celebrate this weekend besides the obvious, which is our nation’s 245 years of independence. The pandemic is waning. Mask mandates and limits on restaurant capacity ended on We…

At long last — 15 months long — it’s over.

It sounds farfetched, and quite likely it is.

Some high school graduates are proficient in calculus while others struggle with algebra.

Leo Adler was not a large man but his legacy, which was substantial even during his life, has grown to massive proportions in the nearly three decades since his death.

That the Oregon Legislature is devoting not only time, but actual legislation, to the issue of disposable wipes might seem an especially noxious example of lawmakers meddling in matters beyond…

The Baker City Council didn’t make a final decision Tuesday, June 8, but councilors discussed asking voters in the future what they think about the city applying for a “quiet zone” within the …

It seems unlikely that members of the Oregon Education Association, the teachers union that lavishes most of its campaign contributions on Democratic candidates, will ever pine for Republicans…

The list of traditional activities that Baker High School seniors have lost over the past 15 months makes for a depressing litany.

Sen. Jeff Merkley has ambitious ideas about making federal forests healthier and less susceptible to the sorts of horrendous wildfires that devastated parts of Oregon in September 2020.

The Biden administration should reject pleas from groups that earlier this week advocated for resuming federal protection for gray wolves in parts of the West, including Eastern Oregon.

It was a belated move, but at least the Oregon Health Authority dropped Baker County to the lowest risk level for COVID-19 spread before the first holiday weekend of summer.

Baker County seems to be beating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baker County’s rate of new COVID-19 cases has dropped to its lowest level in more than three months, and our reward is ...

It was good news, but like so much else during the pandemic, the CDC’s announcement last week about fully vaccinated people doffing face masks and eschewing social distancing in most situation…

The Baker County Narcotics Enforcement Team has been busy recently.

The four hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River in Southeast Washington might seem far removed — geographically and in other ways — from Baker County. But the future of those dams could h…

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, in announcing on Tuesday, May 4, that Baker County and 14 other counties would move from extreme risk to high risk under the state’s COVID-19 restrictions Friday, May 7…

A group of county commissioners from across Oregon, including Mark Bennett of Baker County, along with the Association of Oregon Counties and Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association posed a …

Voters in the Baker School District spoke clearly, and with considerable volume, when the district asked them in November 2018 to approve a $48 million property tax hike to build a new element…

Baker County residents missed a chance on Saturday, April 24 to help protect themselves against COVID-19, and potentially to help some local businesses that have suffered significantly during …

Baker County’s post-spring break, post-Easter surge in COVID-19 cases is waning.

The numbers are real and so are the likely effects.

We understand, even though most of us have the luxury of not having to often think about it, that police officers put themselves in dangerous situations we probably will never have to face.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has in effect acknowledged that the state’s system for setting COVID-19 risk levels in the 36 counties, and the associated state-imposed restrictions on businesses and a…

It might surprise you to learn that some members of the Oregon Legislature believe convicted rapists, murderers and people who exploit children for pornography in certain cases spend too much …

To say it’s been a bad 12 months for movie theater owners is an understatement akin to noting that it’s been a good year for the makers of disposable face masks.

Resolution 3881, which the Baker City Council passed by a 5-2 vote on Tuesday, March 23, cites the economic and social damage resulting from Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s executive orders during th…

Many businesses in Baker County and elsewhere in Oregon have suffered from incessant uncertainty for more than a year due to the pandemic, and it’s time for Gov. Kate Brown to relieve some of …

A considerable sum of money is coming to Baker County and to its cities.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown isn’t the only elected official who has forced older Oregonians to wait for a COVID-19 vaccine despite the irrefutable evidence that they are vastly more likely to die f…

If you brew beer or make wine in Oregon, the past year has been a challenge.

Baker County commissioners made it clear on Wednesday, March 3 that the Baker County Chamber of Commerce will continue to operate the visitors center in Baker City through at least Aug. 31, 2021.