National Newspaper Week kicks off this week to recognize those who work in the industry throughout the U.S. and Canada and its always a good thing for us to occasionally beat our own drum.

Let’s face it, the newspaper industry as a whole has suffered numerous economic woes for more than 15 years and many daily and weekly gazettes across the nation have closed their doors. In the wake of those closures are vast “news deserts” where information about government and other policy initiatives is hard to come by.

At the same time our nation remains deeply politically divided and that means newspapers are more important now than ever to try to deliver information in an accessible, straightforward manner.

Local community newspapers are the backbone of democracy in rural places across the West and the U.S.

While each newspaper provides readers with a variety of subjects, our primary role is to be a watchdog of government. That means keeping a close eye on spending and policy matters so that readers — voters — are informed.

That’s isn’t an easy task and it can be even more difficult in some area than others but the mission remains a vital ingredient to our overall health as a democracy.

What we do is important for our government’s health but it is even more crucial to give our readers a sense of what is going on, how it impacts them and the route to the future.

Newspapers remain relevant and will continue to be.

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If you missed one or more issues of The Observer this week, here are a couple of stories you might have missed.

We’ve had a number of bigger stories in the past week, including how an effort to host an on-campus gubernatorial candidates event at Eastern Oregon University for rural residents fizzled and a story about how the defense for Ronald Lee, who was convicted of murder in August, is seeking a new trial.

We also broke news on a key Oregon permit getting approval for the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line.

We also had a story on a grant the Liberty Theatre received, totaling more than $585,000, from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to support the recovery of the local tourism sector through the revitalization of a historic La Grande landmark.

Looking ahead to next week, we will have a story on new restrictive cellphone policies that are now in place at La Grande High School and La Grande Middle School.

Going into the weekend, we have a big look at what Umatilla County commissioners and commissioner candidates have to say about whether the county should hire a manager. That also could serve as a bit of precede for several upcoming candidate forums.

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As always, we couldn’t do this without you. News gathering is a community endeavor, so we’d love to have your partnership and support for our efforts.