Free editorial: As I write this, I am sitting in the Hood River Columbia Gorge News office for the last time (for now).

Free publisher's note: As a local, regional newspaper, our goal is to share candidate information as thoroughly as possible for readers to make an informed decision. We do our best to remain neutral and non-partisan in races.

Free commentary: For the last two years, I’ve had the joy and honor of reporting with Columbia Gorge News.

Free news: Columbia Gorge News earned a first-place General Excellence award in the national Better Newspaper Contest and a second-place General Excellence award in the Pacific NW News Contest, which includes Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Columbia Gorge News encourages readers to submit letters to the editor for the weekly opinion page. Letters on all topics are welcome.

Free commentary: Two hundred fifty years ago, the Declaration of Independence was adopted in Philadelphia. But America did not become a country only in that room. It became a country as the news moved from community to community.

Free commentary: When I was a kid, I read a short story about a boy whose grade-school class was collecting money to help the “poor.” He told his parents, and they gave him an envelope the next morning — told him not to open it.

Free editorial: Who do we want to represent us? What do we want to support and fund — or not? Voting is our chance to make our voices heard. Not only that, but it’s also an essential part of any democracy.

Free commentary: Every week, this newspaper is delivered to subscribers and newsstands in a four-county area. Fifty-two times a year. We won’t celebrate our sixth anniversary until April 1, but the math points to 300-ish issues so far.

The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District Board of Trustees decision to strike the word “equity” from their work plan is another example of a current trend: Boards seeking an outright ban of the word.

Free editorial: Columbia Gorge News posts stories to our Facebook page and allows comments as a way for the community to engage with each other. We keep an eye on comments to ensure they are civil; those that aren’t are deleted or hidden. Repeat offenders are blocked.

Free commentary: This new year, I want to say thank you to our readers far and wide. I also thank my reporters, freelancers and volunteers, who continue to put in extra effort week by week to cover important issues facing our community, work that is incredibly important.

Free commentary: There are many federal policies that are affecting us at the local level, as we often report. Those stories feel political because they are tied to the federal government. If it’s “liberal” to hold the current administration accountable, then I’m not sure what to tell you — that’s what journalists do, and have always done, beginning with the founding of this country.