Good morning………
We’re bringing you even more improvements to Salem Reporter, starting Monday.
Our crack team of web collaborators has freshened our home page design. This is, we think, an even cleaner look for your local news team. Navigating stories will be easier.
And so will finding help. Instead of clicking through menu bars, you’ll get help from everything on how to subscribe to our contact links out front. They will be all in one place at the bottom of the page.
What doesn’t change is our commitment to bring you excellent Salem journalism.
We delivered big time this week, I think.
For starters, reporter Madeleine Moore published her series, “Profiles in recovery.” She does a terrific job of sharing the accounts of three Salem people who have gone through recovery. They are stories of determination, of persistence and of a better future ahead.
Why do this?
Reporting on addiction and treatment too often is dictated by actions taken by government and nonprofits. The numbers are huge – budgets, people, the needs. The acronyms can set your head spinning. And no matter how hard we work to translate, let’s face it. These stories are usually about systems and officials and dollars.
“Profiles in recovery” gets you well past that. And if you have a notion to just move on, I encourage you to read just one of them. I bet you come away surprised at what’s working for people in our community.
The series features revealing interviews with Billy Sly, Mark Parrish and Brianna Hatchell.
The other way we served was to keep pressing for the truth about the departure of Salem’s city manager, Keith Stahley. Our city government reporter, Joe Siess, has not let go of the topic, knowing people like you want the full story. His latest account provides new disclosures and we pulled into one place for you all the statements issued by the city day by day in a tumultuous week.
On Monday, the Salem City Council is formally expected to put a measure on the May ballot, asking for money.
You can have a say before they do and here’s how, as compiled by Joe Siess:
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, and will be both in-person at the council chambers, 555 Liberty St. S.E., and available to watch online. Members of the public can submit a comment for any item on the council agenda.
To comment remotely, sign up on the city website between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday. The meeting will be livestreamed on YouTube in English and Spanish.
To provide written comments, email [email protected] before 5 p.m. on Monday, or submit on paper to the city recorder’s office at the Civic Center, 555 Liberty St. S.E., Room 225. Include a statement indicating the comment is for the public record.
In other government news:
•Chemeketa Community College has decided to get on the May ballot with its own money request, as Managing Editor Rachel Alexander explains.
•The Salem-Keizer School District sees good signs in student reading from its own assessment.
•Tenants at a Salem mobile home park head to the Legislature, speaking up about rents.
In community news:
•Salem Health and Regence Blue Cross are done talking and that impacts the health care for thousands, as reporter Abbey McDonald explains.
•Snow didn’t deter some local folks from their trek to an historic property in Salem to plant a single oak.
•The impact of the Kroc Center in Salem was on display at its anniversary celebration, where one young man talked about how he’s gone from getting Fs and Ds at school to As.
In Salem people news:
•For three decades, a Salem man has kept arcade machines buzzing and binging. From our story: “Xavier looked surprised and burst out laughing when he learned his boss at Chuck E. Cheese described him as a professional breakdancer.”
•Henry Dalton makes it easier for the average person to figure out what government is doing. Read about the app his team developed.
•And then there was the Market for the Strange. Reporter Alan Cohen went to share what this is all about.
Hey, thanks for spending a few moments with me to catch up on what’s happening around Salem. What are we missing? Send me an email at [email protected]. Readers like you are key sources for us.
–Les Zaitz, Editor and co-founder
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