In our weekly “news meeting” last Wednesday, when Chinook Observer staff gathers to plan content for the next couple of editions, we discussed what an extraordinarily newsy place Pacific County is.

It’s always been my belief that every community and county is loaded with interesting people and stories, and beautiful scenes and faces. But there are lots of people in the journalism profession who lack a fundamental understanding of what makes a worthwhile story.

I tell our reporters that if something is dull and uninteresting to them, readers won’t like it either. This doesn’t mean we can ignore things like the latest city council meeting, but we should (and do) try to find the aspects that actually make a difference to folks. Reading a newspaper shouldn’t be a chore.

I’ll soon mark the 32nd anniversary of becoming editor here, and think I have a few more years to give. This place is endlessly fascinating — usually, but certainly not always, in good ways.

How do we find “the news”? There are dozens of different ways stories come into existence, but it mostly comes down to listening and watching for whatever I find interesting.

Late last week, for instance, a British Broadcasting Corporation story mentioned in passing that the U.S. North Pacific is one of a number of global locations experiencing a marine heatwave — a large area of water that is too warm by historical standards. I googled the subject and found no one had written about it. Reaching out to Washington state Climatologist Nick Bond confirmed what BBC mentioned. And on Sunday I wrote a story, that immediately went on our digital edition: tinyurl.com/New-Pacific-Blob. There’s a good chance this will become a major regional story in the months ahead. And you read it here first.

We also take pride in many strictly local stories. In this week’s edition we’ll have a tribute to a woman who tragically died in a car fire near Chinook. It is an honor to share her memory with you.

Thank you for allowing us to cover the news and people here. We can’t do it without you.