If you're wondering if shoe leather reporting still happens, I just crammed a request for more information through somebody's mail slot.

Possibly the nicest thing anyone has said about me.

If you think my headlines are bad, wait until you see my working titles.

I built a Snake game in the latest history column from News in the Grove. www.newsinthegrove.com/column-1925-...

Nothing quite makes you feel alive like the A string snapping in your face.

Whoops: Oregon Parks and Rec just sent out a completely empty FlashAlert.

One of my favorite findings from my years trawling through newspaper archives has been the poetry of Verne Bright, a Forest Grove poet, journalist, & author. A Pacific University graduate, he worked with one of my cousins at the Pacific Index, one of the oldest student newspapers in Oregon.

I don't take "no you can't see that" very well.

You know how in the Nolan Batman films, a key part of Bruce's backstory is falling into a deep hole and being terrorized by bats? I had pretty much the same thing happen to me. I was sledding down a hill when I was about 10, and the ground gave away beneath me.

I'm sorry, I don't accept hate mail or death threats from people who don't subscribe to my newspaper.

I have acquired a 1994 "Spelling Ace" computer. Between this and my electric typewriter, I'll be unstoppable.

WAITING FOR YOUR HOST TO JOIN

I have to do exercises 5x daily while recovering from a back injury and the office dog Tank is *thrilled.*

I am now up to six library cards.

I am dog sitting. Meet Hadey, if you can get her to stay still.

No press table at a government meeting? I'll make my own!

Happy #Caturday!

Bryan is doing the Lord's work over here, folks.

It's possible leaving newspapers with my phone number in them at the local tavern was a mistake.

News in the Grove isn't even officially launched as a newspaper and I've already published our first f-bomb!

It's just a fact of life that as a frequent AP reader, I simply type "ASS" into my browser and hit enter.

I am nearly done with a major weekslong technology project as I merge the Gales Creek Journal and News in the Grove and switch the Banks Post over to a brand-new publishing platform, which means I can soon return to my first love: Being insufferable about public records.

As is tradition on Labor Day, I am in the office, exploiting my worker, me.

Special session report:

I took a lot of photos at the Banks BBQ. This one, at the frog jumping contest, is my favorite.

Somebody let the cat out of the bag, we have a student journalist from OSU, Mark Graves with the Oregonian and I spy an OPB reporter too at the Banks BBQ Combine Derby!

If you're ever concerned no one is reading your newspaper, simply get the time wrong on the parade and you'll suddenly hear from a lot of dedicated readers!

Yes, I did obtain more than 70 public records from multiple agencies to find out more about what was being filmed in western Washington County.

A grim note foreshadowed the Tillamook Burn, which began west of Forest Grove 92 years ago today. On Monday, August 7, 1933, a group went up to Lee Falls, then (and now) a popular but hard-to-reach swimming hole near the Cherry Grove community. (A view of the Tillamook Burn from an airplane)

God Almighty I nearly published something about a frog humping contest instead of a frog jumping contest.

Last night, I built a really cool backend automation that will help me run my newspaper more efficiently! This morning, I discovered I made a basic looping error and it ran 24,896 times in six hours, using up all my Airtable automation runs for the month.

Not the peacock leg-shaming in a 1925 newspaper!

The great thing about running a rural newspaper is that you can trade 6 months of advertising for a crate of home canned tuna.

Amazing. This reported brush fire turned out to be... The moon.

There is a train derailment and I am stuck at home recovering from wisdom tooth extraction. You have no idea how upsetting this is to a breaking news reporter.

Something truly incredible has happened here in the city of Forest Grove. News in the Grove, my bid to bring a full-service, 1970s level of newspaper back to this fine city hit... this milestone, completely by coincidence. (@newsinthegrove.bsky.social)

If you know anything about Dilley, Oregon as it is today, this week's history column will be very funny to you. Apparently, in 1875, someone opened a saloon there and the Hillsboro newspaper was U P S E T.

Doing my due journalistic diligence and it appears the number this person accused of sparking a wildfire gave police is in fact a number for a Washington plumbing company.

I've successfully linked my Obsidian vault to Airtable, I am unstoppable now.

Holy hell: The Oregon State Police just issued a correction today to a press release from July 8 to note that the person declared dead in a Linn County crash is not, in fact, dead.

Amazing. (The crash was extremely serious and resulted in a state highway being closed)

I cannot express just how much tonight's confusion over which page number an agenda item was on felt ripped straight from a Parks and Recreation episode.

🎶 Hello GovQA my friend I need some records once again A public agency is sneaking And I can't get their staff leaking and fee waivers that I drafted were in vain Still remains Documents in silence 🎶

The Oregon Department of Corrections wants to charge me more than $40 for, get this, PDFs of *blank forms and policy manuals* instructing staff on how to respond to a person dying in custody.

If y'all don't start shitposting soon, I don't think Bluesky is going to make it. It's kind of boring here.

I think Ghost is a great band but I have to stop listening every time I realize the lead singer sounds like if Weird AL started a glam rock band.

You can't take this seriously when it's in Dutch.

"Thank you for your attention to this matter" is how I sign an email urging a company to refund my money.

NO MORE STORIES. I have a huge backlog of stories I'm trying to catch up on. I just need everyone to stay home, sit on their couch, and hold still for like 72 hours, thanks.

As the U.S. weighs involvement in the Israel-Iran war, about 230 soldiers deployed from Forest Grove are nearing the end of their Iraq and Syria deployment. www.newsinthegrove.com/forest-grove...