Good morning…….
In the week ahead, the board of Malheur County Development Corp. is scheduled to meet Tuesday. The company is developing the Treasure Valley Reload Center and, according to an approved schedule, a “draft business plan” is to be completed by Monday, Feb. 5.
Such a business plan is crucial to restarting the project, and our news team will report on its contents as soon as it is released. The project team is also supposed to “engage experts” by Monday to help, and we’ll be watching to see who’s been hired to do what.
This all is building to a plan for what to do with the Nyssa rail center, now only partially done.
The Oregon Department of Transportation has said it intends to make a go/no go decision soon on whether state funding would continue flowing.
In other news, the Argus Observer announced significant cutbacks in its operations. The Ontario paper is owned by an Arizona corporation. This comes on top of day after day of bad news in journalism with organizations laying off people or simply shutting down.
The Enterprise continues as your strong local source of news for Malheur County. With us, you get more news at less cost. We count on subscribers and at $7.50 a month for around-the-clock access, you can’t find a better deal for fair and accurate news that more and more people trust.
Now, let’s turn to some of that news from recent days.
We know readers love to hear about local businesses, and reporter Steve Mitchell delivered with a story about the Rock Store out towards Owyhee Reservoir. The owners are ambitious and creative – the kind of local operators who make the community strong.
Our team also got more details for the community about the changes at the Argus Observer, including company furloughs last year.
Reporter Pat Caldwell’s coverage of the moose shot to death outside of Ontario also is getting lots of attention. People apparently loved watching this cow. Malheur County does have a small herd.
The state recently released the annual report on graduation rates for high school students. Nyssa High School posted an impressive 14% gain. Other districts didn’t fare so well, but overall Malheur County kids are out-performing the state averages.
Speaking of numbers, local agencies did the annual count of homeless in Malheur County. This comes as county officials report on how an emergency shelter during the cold spell worked out while hunger among some of our fellow residents remains a challenge.
On the public safety front, police made two arrests after a man was gunned down in a homeless camp in Ontario, and firefighters quickly stopped a fire at a Vale RV park.
And lest you feel like it’s all gloom and doom out there, our news team does gather up good news, such as the local donor who gave $1 million to help finish a new nursing center in Ontario.
And we delivered pictures from photographer Angie Sillonis as the Nyssa Elementary School Dance Team performed recently.
One of the joys for all of us at the Enterprise is hearing from readers like you. We appreciate the questions, the tips and even the criticism. Let me close out today’s newsletter with a note we received recently:
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–Les Zaitz, editor and publisher, Malheur Enterprise
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