The Chieftain has a new reporter: Daniel Brooks has joined the staff of the newspaper, and worked his first day for us on Thursday, Dec. 21. You’ll see his byline increasingly frequently as I work him into the mix in the Chieftain’s newsroom.

Brooks, 44, is a native of Utah who came to Eastern Oregon in September to be closer to his father. He worked as the news director and reporter for the website News of Oregon, based in La Grande, where he reported and wrote local news stories. During his time working at News of Oregon, he impressed his coworkers with his work ethic and willingness to learn — both important attributes as he gets to know Wallowa County.

When the News of Oregon website shut down, Brooks came to work at the Chieftain, and started his search for a place to live in Wallowa County. In the meantime, he’ll be based out of The Observer newsroom in La Grande, and will travel to Wallowa County as necessary to cover stories, assuming that Highway 82 is in passable shape.

Before Brooks came to Eastern Oregon with his wife, Shandra, he earned a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University.

He loves writing, and is anxious to learn more about the art of reporting — interviewing, reporting public documents, posing questions to public officials that at times might seem impertinent. Both reporting and writing, of course, take years to learn — and the best journalists understand that there’s always room to sharpen those essential skills.

My plan now is to have Brooks take the lead in covering Wallowa County schools, an area that the Chieftain hasn’t covered as well as we should have, in part because of staffing issues. I also want him to cover Wallowa County courts as he becomes more familiar with the county.

Of course, in a small newsroom like the Chieftain, the idea of beats is a flexible one: The truth is that Brooks will be covering a little bit of everything. And in Wallowa County, which generates a surprising amount of news, there will be plenty to keep him occupied.

You can email him at dbrooks@wallowa.com or phone him at 541-426-1331. And take a moment to say hello when you see him around the county.

Speaking of news from Wallowa County, our year-in-review section appears in the B section of today’s Chieftain.

Walking through the events of 2023 reminded me of what a year of transition this was for the county, and I think you’ll agree with that assessment once you page through the section, which includes quick summaries of the year’s top events and some of my favorite photos from the Chieftain in 2023.

It was a busy year. I expect no less from 2024.

In fact, it’s not out of the question that 2024 could shape up as even busier: The 2024 election, for example, is shaping up as an important one, locally, statewide and nationally. The Wallowa County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hold two discussions about the merits of the Greater Idaho movement as it might play out for Wallowa County; it will be interesting to see if the civil but spirited nature of that initial discussion back in August proves to be the rule, and not the exception. Let’s hope so.

Will the short session of the Legislature scheduled in February wind up with another win or two for Eastern Oregon residents — or will the session return to form and run roughshod over the region?

Will the county be able to sustain what has turned out to be a surprisingly robust year of progress on addressing its supply of workforce housing? Again, let’s hope so — but a lot of work remains to dig out of this particular hole.

So, yes, we’re expecting 2024 to be just as lively (possibly more so) than the busy year that’s just ending. And our goal at the Chieftain is to be reporting all about it, from the first day of the year all the way to its finale.