One of the biggest changes I’ve encountered in my newspaper career revolves around the evolution of our sense of identity in Eastern Oregon.

When I began my newspaper career more than 20 years ago, our region was divided, for a lack of a better word, into silos. The news that occurred in Wallowa County was distinct from what happened in Union County or Umatilla County.

That’s all changed of course and, I think, the shift can be attributed to the advent and explosion of social media.

The terrain of the newspaper industry in Eastern Oregon changed as well. EO Media Group now covers, for the most part, most of our region.

That means, while specific areas of our region still retain its distinct nature, our news coverage encompasses places as far apart as Enterprise to Hermiston.

In a way, to me at least, that means we’ve become more inclusive while still able to retain our individual features.

For a news organization, it means we must ensure we focus on the news that is important to each part of our coverage area while, at the same time, providing a platform where what occurs in, say, Baker County is relevant to Umatilla County and vice versa.

We have a lot of area to cover but we will continue to offer our readers the best coverage we can.

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If you missed the latest Chieftain, you missed the impressive Fourth of July fireworks and parade celebration. Bill Bradshaw also reported on another calf being killed by wolves in Wallowa County. Jeff Budlong also recapped the impressive run of the Wallowa Valley All-Star baseball team.

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As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support of the Wallowa County Chieftain. We can’t do this work without you.