With the development of vaccines for the coronavirus and distribution underway, there may be an end to distance learning just around the corner. This said, there are still many children struggling with their reading, and parents assisting their children with schooling.
As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout begins to put a post-pandemic world within our reach, it is time to start giving some thought to what that world should look like.
As images emerged from the U.S. Capitol being overrun by a mob on Wednesday Jan. 6, many sparked a sense of horror among those watching.
As the dust is still settling on my 2020 calendar, I recently reflected on the year that was. Many people have described the events of last year as “unprecedented times.”
As the first vaccines for COVID-19 are distributed to those at the front of the line, Americans are — rightly so — being given a choice about whether to receive the vaccine themselves.
For the third time since March 2020, Hermiston School District teachers and staff are preparing to launch a new educational system for our students.
What a year it has been.
It’s been a tough year.
School this year looks like something we might have seen on the cartoon show “The Jetsons” from the 1960s. Students of all ages are spending hours on electronics.
This month, as people of many faith traditions celebrate holidays focused on peace and love, it feels particularly important to fully embrace the ideals those holidays have come to stand for.
Each year, Time Magazine famously dubs a particularly influential person or group of people as its “Person of the Year.” While Time went with president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect…
One gig I would never want to do is serve as Santa Claus.
Anyone who has had children, younger siblings or nieces and nephews has probably witnessed some variation of this scene before: A toddler tears the wrapping paper off a Christmas present and, …
I’m sure many have heard the phrase “Cash is King.”
It’s been a beautiful fall in the Columbia Basin so far, but it feels inevitable that the first icy roads of the season for Hermiston aren’t far off. Already, the mountain passes east of Pendl…
Dyslexia — what is it?
This has been an incredibly challenging year for the Hermiston School District, and especially for our students and families. So much of their learning and growing experience is about being to…
In my years of interviewing people in Hermiston, there are certain phrases I hear over and over again. One is that Hermiston is a “very giving community.”
One thing I appreciate about the month of November is that numerous people in my Facebook newsfeed are posting daily about something that they are grateful for. It has been especially refreshi…
In March I wrote a column called “Things to be grateful for in the age of COVID-19.”
This week we celebrate Veterans Day, honoring those who have served our country through military service.
Though cliché to say, it is true, elections do have consequences.
By the time you read this, voting deadlines for the Nov. 3 election will be over in Oregon and preliminary results will have been announced.
Albert Einstein once said that the world as we have created it is a process of our thinking and that it cannot be changed without changing our thinking.
A pet peeve among journalists is when people ask, “Why isn’t the media covering this?” about a topic that every major media outlet in the country has, indeed, covered with multiple articles.
The fall season brings another opportunity to join together for breast cancer awareness.
On May 7, 1955, Reverend George Lee was shot and killed by an unidentified assailant while driving his car.
While the Hermiston Herald does not write endorsements for political candidates each election, I will offer up an endorsement of what doctors and public health officials around the world are b…
For the better part of the past six months, I haven’t even set an alarm clock. That all changed last month, as I was asked to fill in for a couple of weeks while one of my former colleagues wa…
What is the difference between bookkeepers, accountants, and certified public accountants (known as CPAs)?
While I was watching the news events of last week unfold, I was thinking of a song that I grew up singing in church when I was a young child. It went:
Election Day isn’t until Nov. 3, but another deadline looms nearer: The deadline to register to vote in Oregon is Oct. 13.
Each new school year is a learning experience. Teachers and students join together to create a positive environment out of a new mix of personalities, skill sets and abilities. Educators intro…
In all the time I’ve worked as a journalist covering Hermiston, I think 2020 is the first year I haven’t had a single person call to tell me they had heard from a very credible source that Cos…
There are no adjectives that adequately describe the devastation that wildfires have brought to the West in the last month. At least 33 people are known to have died in the fires, and the dama…
Today, let’s talk about trust.
I’m sure no one in the world would have expected something so small that you cannot even see it to turn everything in the world upside down, but COVID–19 did. School does not look anything lik…
This Friday, Sept. 11, marks the 19th anniversary of the terror attacks that toppled the World Trade Center and left one side of the Pentagon in smoking ruins.
One thing the novel coronavirus has given me is time — an abundance of time.
If there is one thing 2020 has taught us, it is that you never know when disaster will strike. I don’t think any of us in January thought Umatilla County would be underwater in February and lo…
One of the biggest challenges many employers are facing is getting their workforce back on the job during the continuing COVID-19 environment. There are many obstacles, including the fact thos…
The evils of human trafficking and child abuse have seen increased attention in recent weeks, including a march in Hermiston last weekend to raise awareness of the issue.
Have you seen the preschooler or kindergartner who reads without a problem?
This column is part of a longer history submitted by Robert Bowman, a former Echo resident, about his father, Asa Mitchell Bowman Jr., who was killed in action in World War II on Oct. 4, 1944,…
Let’s talk about the U.S. Postal Service.
Businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program funds are no doubt aware that all or a portion of the loan is forgivable if funds are used according to program requirements.
If you have received an invitation from the U.S. Census Bureau to fill out the 2020 Census and have not yet done so, stop what you’re doing and go do that now.
I recently had a déjà vu moment with my soda of choice.
When I first arrived in Hermiston three months ago as an eager Snowden intern, I didn’t know what working as a reporter for the Hermiston Herald and the East Oregonian would look like amid a p…
I felt a strong sense of déjà vu last week when I had to scramble to post information about a sudden, late-night announcement from Gov. Kate Brown about Umatilla County being sent back to the …
Before I moved to Hermiston, while I was working for The Dalles Chronicle, a co-worker told me an anecdote about a homeless man with an apparent mental illness.
There are still a lot of questions about what school will look like when it resumes in the fall, but one thing is clear: It won’t look anything like what the rest of us experienced when we wer…
When I’m asked what the 2020-21 school year will look like, there are a lot of possible answers.
As Umatilla County’s COVID-19 numbers continue to grow by leaps and bounds compared to the rest of Oregon, I’m seeing a lot of arguing over how accurate the numbers are, and much less discussi…
I’m starting to come down with something. Don’t worry, it’s not the ‘rona — I have a severe case of cabin fever.
