Commissioner Larry Wilson, rear left, wears his Malheur County Economic Development shirt at a state meeting in Salem in July. (ODOT video) VALE – Malheur County Commissioner Larry Wilson sat in a state meeting in Salem last July, wearing a one-of-a-kind shirt. The long-sleeved shirt was personalized. “Commissioner Wilson,” it[Read More…]

Glenn Palmer, Grant County sheriff, and former Rep. Deborah Boone of Astoria. (Photos courtesy of The Oregonian and the Astorian) Imagine what would happen if someone tipped off the police that you possibly committed a felony. Perhaps you’d find detectives at your door, notebooks in hand. Or a subpoena compelling[Read More…]

Greg Smith, Malheur County’s economic development director, on Aug. 8, 2019, formally rejected Bluebird Express Car Wash’s application for tax exemption. The company requested the exemption more than nine months earlier. (The Enterprise/File) ONTARIO – John Braese dropped by Bluebird Express Car Wash in Ontario on a Thursday afternoon, bearing[Read More…]

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Greg Smith, Malheur County economic development director, issued a statement after publication of this story and updates reflect his comments. ONTARIO – John Fery’s company broke ground on a $4.5 million car wash last November, motivated by Malheur County’s promise that his business would owe no property taxes[Read More…]

Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, addresses a crowd at a 2019 Memorial Day event. (Christopher Keizur/The Gresham Outlook.) A retired nurse, not fleeing Oregon state senators, doomed Gov. Kate Brown’s keystone environmental policy that had been in the works for more than a decade, according to interviews and public records.[Read More…]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is published in collaboration with The Lund Report. The millions of dollars and countless hours that Oregon health officials have devoted to fighting the opioid epidemic in recent years have had an effect: Overdose deaths from prescription painkillers have fallen to a 14-year low.  At the[Read More…]

Greg Smith appears before the Oregon Transportation Commission in February, representing two different clients of his economic development business. (Mark Ylen/Mid-Valley Media) Greg Smith is a juggler. In La Grande, he holds a full-time job directing Eastern Oregon University’s Small Business Development Center.   A hundred miles away in Boardman,[Read More…]

Greg Smith, a state legislator and Malheur County’s economic development director, appears at a public meeting regarding the county’s proposed rail shipping center. John Braese, a project manager for the county agency, was hired in 2018 to help. (Pat Caldwell/The Enterprise) VALE — Greg Smith pitched Malheur County for more[Read More…]

Greg Smith, Malheur County’s economic development director, took an extraordinary step on Wednesday, releasing a three-page statement in response to an investigative report published earlier in the day by the Malheur Enterprise. We have already shared that statement on our website and on our Facebook page. Smith’s statement is the[Read More…]

Malheur County’s economic development director late Wednesday issued a three-page statement responding to an investigative report by the Malheur Enterprise. Greg Smith, a state legislator who runs a private economic development firm, explained expenses and processes involved in developing the Treasure Valley Reload Center. “Every dollar spent towards approval of[Read More…]