Thank you for your interest in reading The Observer. Here are a few stories that you might have missed this week:

City retreats and setting priorities was a common theme this week with the La Grande City Council and the Urban Renewal Agency each holding meetings to hammer out priorities and areas of focus for the coming fiscal year. Isabella Crowley did a great job in outlining what both agencies came up with.

Other big news this week was the release of the four-year graduation rate for the Class of 2022 in Oregon, which was 81.3%, a small increase over last year’s graduation rate. Reporter Dick Mason dove into the numbers for Union County and talked to area superintendents about the numbers.

Dick also had an update on the search for a new president at Eastern Oregon University. The EOU Board of Trustees this week voted to give Summit Search Solutions, an Ashville, North Carolina, firm Eastern hired to recruit presidential candidates, the green light it needs to begin contacting individuals it believes might be a good fit for the school.

Freelance reporter Trish Yerges profiled the new ownership of the Imbler Market and looked at the history of the building.

Other business news this week was the confirmation from La Grande Community Development Director Mike Boquist that an Arby’s and Hampton Inn & Suites each have cleared the process with the planning division and are working with the city’s building division. 

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— Andrew Cutler is the interim editor of The Observer.