The board of directors for the nonprofit concert band called off the Sunday performance to protect their players and audience from the omicron surge.

New screening will begin Jan. 27, four days before the legislative session starts.

Volunteers are needed for the annual point in time count, intended to serve as a snapshot of the number of homeless people on a given night.

After years of steady increases in the district, new state data shows Salem-Keizer’s graduation rate was about the same as in 2020, and remains far higher than five years ago. Gaps along racial and income lines persisted, but generally didn’t worsen.

Local birder and natural history author Harry Fuller shares what birds are up to in the Salem area in his "Some Fascinating Things About Birds" column.

Rhonda Herbert and her sheepadoodle, Daphne, meet with people in hospice care weekly to provide them a source of joy, be it from petting Daphne or receiving her gentle kisses.

INSIDE SCOOP: Catch the back story on the latest local news with reporter Saphara Harrell on community radio station KMWV (98.3 FM) with "In Case You Missed It - With Salem Reporter."

The Oregon Promise grant is supposed to help high school seniors with the costs of community college, but 80% of the money is going to students with the least need.

The day of service, held on Martin Luther King Day, was the inaugural project in the 100 Volunteer Projects for 100 Years event undertaken by Oregon State Parks this year, along with another simultaneous volunteer event at Harris Beach State Park.

As of Jan. 11, all Oregon jurisdictions eligible for the cut of the settlement have signed on.

When Salem schools moved online, thousands of kids went without the dental screenings the district has offered in many elementary schools for years. Now, hygienists are finding about one in three kids have decay, up from 22% pre-pandemic.

Pandemic layoffs in the spring of 2020 created an unusual recession disproportionately felt in service industries. The recovery, too, has been faster than typical.

Oregon Capital Chronicle, Rural Development Initiatives and the Agora Journalism Center are leading regional virtual sessions to hear from Oregonians.

Salem's parks department is planning improvements at parks around the city in 2022 with a schedule of monthly volunteer work crews. Saturday's work party drew about 20 volunteers to shovel wood chips at the west Salem park.

Marion County is working on road improvements to both Northeast Hayesville Drive and Center Street that will add sidewalks and bike lanes in the coming years.

Even after a dip in the initial omicron surge, Marion County’s daily Covid case count on Friday was more than six times higher than the December peak. With that has come a testing shortage so significant that county health officials are asking employers not to require Covid tests to return to work as long as they first quarantine, are fever-free for a day and show improved symptoms.

This column is part of a regular feature from Salem Reporter to highlight local history in collaboration with area historians and historical organizations. Kimberli Fitzgerald, Salem's historic preservation officer, walks through the history of civil rights law in Oregon and local cases.

Gubernatorial candidate Nick Kristof submitted a filing Friday to the Oregon Supreme Court, reasserting his contention that Oregon has been his home for the required time. State attorneys this week are expected to present Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s case to bar him from the ballot.

Auditors say a simple ratio of troopers to residents isn’t good enough.

State health officials said Friday that schools should focus their contact tracing efforts on school lunch and activities like sports and band where students don't wear masks. The change is intended to reduce the amount of work school districts need to do to keep up with surging infections.

The city has one final forum on the proposed sites on Jan. 19.

After nearly two years of challenges for places of worship, some faith leaders in Salem are again looking for unique approaches to holding services, this time in response to omicron-induced anxiety among congregants.

Thousands of Oregon students will see a refund of some payments or their debt canceled because of a $1.85 billion settlement with student loan servicer Navient following a lawsuit brought by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and 38 other states.

State health officials on Thursday said they're deploying hundreds more contracted health care workers to hospitals and long-term care facilities which were already struggling with high patient loads and short staff before the omicron wave of Covid sickened people across the state.