As you might have heard, the Chieftain is suspending publication of its print edition after this Wednesday’s issue. That’s not happy news, and I won’t try to pretend otherwise.

However, the Chieftain will continue to generate local news, which we’ll be posting on our website. And subscribers to the Chieftain will continue to receive a printed newspaper on Wednesday — a regional edition of the East Oregonian, which will include as much news from Wallowa County as we can squeeze into it. (It also will feature coverage from throughout Eastern Oregon, including Union, Baker, Grant and Umatilla counties.)

I’ll get back to all that in a moment. But first, some additional background about the decision to suspend publication of the print edition of the Chieftain:

That decision is one of a number of moves by the Chieftain’s parent company, the EO Media Group, to try to navigate a challenging business climate in which expenses are growing and advertising revenue is shrinking. In this column, Kathryn Brown, one of the company’s owners, does a good job of explaining the pressures facing newspapers, especially a smaller paper like the Chieftain. The bottom line is this: After years of turning a profit, the Chieftain in recent years often has operated at a loss and the EO Media Group no longer can sustain those losses.

But the news still stings: For more than 125 years, the Chieftain has published a print edition. Publishers like George Cheney, Gwen Coffin and Don and Richard Swart worked heard to make sure the paper got out every week, even in the depths of a Wallowa County winter.

The EO Media Group, with its own long background as a family business, bought the paper from the Swart family in 2000.

It’s not out of the question that a printed version of the Chieftain will return someday. But in the meantime, I’m determined to make sure that the Chieftain remains focused on providing as much news as possible about Wallowa County — online at wallowa.com and in the pages of the regional East Oregonian.

To that end, I will continue to write this weekly email note, letting you know about what stories we’re working on — and what stories you might have missed. (I will continue to use this space sometimes for first drafts of editorials, which will continue, both online and in print.)

Details of the regional East Oregonian still are being worked out by the four editors at EO Media Group’s Eastside papers: I think it’s fair to say that it will be a very much a work in progress during its few weeks. Its first edition is scheduled to arrive in your mailbox around July 3. 

In the meantime, if you have questions about any of this, feel free to send me an email at mmcinally@wallowa.com. I can’t guarantee that I have all the answers, but I’ll do my best to answer.

And we continue to work on the June 26 edition of the Chieftain, which is scheduled to contain plenty of stories:

We’ll tell you about a community group in Lostine that has emerged in the face wolf attacks on livestock in the area. We’ll check in to see how fundraising efforts are going for the Shake the Lake July 4 fireworks show at Wallowa Lake. We’ll take you up to the Minam area, where attendees recently celebrated a major milestone at the Minam State Recreation Area. And we’ll tell you how a bill introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden could help rural hospitals hang onto their maternity wards.

It’s all part of our commitment as much local coverage as we possibly can. Much is changing about the Chieftain in the next few weeks, but that commitment is not. 

If you haven’t already, this is a good time to take a moment to register your subscription for digital access to the Chieftain. Call 541-963-3161 to talk to a member of our customer service staff, who will be happy to walk you through the process. It’s easy, takes just a few moments to set up and allows you to take advantage of our e-edition, app and website delivery along with your print subscription. (The online edition also features a big selection of puzzles available only to subscribers.)

And let me clue you in on a new feature on our website that should help subscribers who are experiencing problems logging in. On the right side of the top navigation bar, you’ll see a “?” Click on it, and you’ll go to our new Help Center, designed specifically to help subscribers who are experiencing problems logging in. Log-in problems are a pain, and we’re hoping this feature helps you if you experience those. 

Finally, let me take this opportunity to once again thank the Chieftain’s subscribers: It would be impossible for us to do this vital work without your support.

Mike McInally is the editor of the Wallowa County Chieftain. You can email him at editor@wallowa.com or mmcinally@wallowa.com.