It's a weekly paper

In the coming weeks, it will arrive in your mailbox every Wednesday.

The Dalles Chronicle, Hood River News and White Salmon Enterprise each has more than 100 years of history in their community.  It has worked tirelessly to engage and inform the residents for years. 

We are sad to see it change, but if the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is that normal as we know it is no longer. Change will continue, in ways we don’t  expect.

The Columbia Gorge News: White Salmon Enterprise, The Dalles Chronicle and Hood River News, is in its infancy. The goal is to get staff hired back and work to produce a top news product over the months ahead. But we must make our efforts reasonable as we ramp back up. We must cover our expenses, our biggest challenge as a new start-up. This is why we are publishing Wednesdays only.

It’s not your same newspaper, and I understand that, but it is the continuation of print journalism in our communities. It is the platform so many rely on in our rural communities. I’ve received many phone calls, letters and emails over the last two weeks.  Some stir my emotions as I realize just how much our community appreciates the effort of keeping a newspaper in the Gorge.

I am thankful to the staff who has continued by my side through all these changes. It has been difficult, and will be slow to improve. We lost some employees, including the White Salmon husband and wife team, Elaine and Sverre Bakke, who retired at the stop of Eagle Newspapers on March 31. We lost a good team, and I hope we retain the sense of community they built. We want to continue to be the local newspaper for White Salmon and all of the Gorge.

— Chelsea Marr, owner/publisher