Doug Bishop, lead diver and lead investigator for Adventures with Purpose, talks with founder Jared Leisek after they pulled three cars out of the Willamette River on July 10. (Courtesy/Doug Bishop) For Doug Bishop, pulling three stolen cars out of the Willamette River was nothing out of the ordinary. Bishop[Read More…]
Ardeshir Tabrizian
Salem library exhibit stacks origami boxes honoring victims of gun violence
The Salem Public Library invited people to participate in a group folding of origami boxes for The Soul Box Project’s exhibit on Friday, July 22, 2022. (Ardeshir Tabrizian/Salem Reporter) After 61 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Leslie Lee started poring over the[Read More…]
The Reed Underground to showcase artists, comedians in historic opera house basement
The band New Old Stock prepares for a performance in the Reed Underground on Friday, July 15. (Ardeshir Tabrizian/Salem Reporter) Earlier this year, drywall concealed the brick walls that have held up Salem’s Reed Opera House for a century and a half. The old brick is now part of the[Read More…]
Rising costs, supply chain problems plague construction projects in Salem
For Pence Construction, a Salem commercial contractor, this year marked the first time a construction project hinged on dimmer switches. All other supplies are in, but Brent Pence, owner and senior project manager, said they can’t have dimmable light switches in hand until August. “My whole project ties into this[Read More…]
Big jumps in food prices hit Salem restaurants, institutions
Annette’s Westgate Cafe goes through about 330 pounds of bacon a week. It’s a staple for the Salem restaurant on Northwest Edgewater Street, which has been serving hearty meals for 15 years. Owner Brian Kato Dilks said many of the proteins served at Annette’s are bought on six-month or year-long[Read More…]
Middle schoolers create art for micro shelter residents in months-long project
John Marshall, a pastor at Salem’s Church at the Park, said local middle school students have had a conversation over the past four months that he never heard in 12 years of Salem-Keizer public education. He said Howard Street Charter School has encouraged students to think critically about what it[Read More…]
Marion County spending $14.3 million to construct new Health and Human Services building
Marion County officials are spending $14.3 million to build a new Health and Human Services building next to the existing location on Northeast Center Street. County officials say it’s a one-time investment that could help save hundreds of thousands in annual costs for space currently leased across several different locations.[Read More…]
Contracted state hospital worker punches patient following racist slurs, hospital reports say
The Oregon State Hospital on May 28, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) A contracted worker at Oregon State Hospital last month punched a patient who moments before had hurled racist slurs at the staffer. Erik Banks, the contracted mental health technician, was “removed from our facility and instructed not to return,”[Read More…]
Salem area gets federal housing funds for homeless, domestic violence victims
Jayne Downing, executive director of the Center for Hope and Safety, stands in the building’s office in 2019. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Marion and Polk counties are getting around $1.3 million in federal money to help get people who are homeless or victims of domestic violence into stable housing. In addition[Read More…]
Man who died after confrontation with Salem police was homeless, had lifelong mental illness, family says
Rachel Coble saw her brother two weeks before he died in a confrontation with Salem police officers. After living in his car at Northgate Park for a year – and decades of struggling with addiction – Richard Meyers looked well. Meyers told Coble he’d been seeing a woman who he[Read More…]