Highland Elementary fifth-grader Emma Donecker, center, shows off new Dungeons and Dragons manuals for the school’s roleplaying game club, now in its second year (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Last school year Emma Donecker and Aly Mason fought a dragon, talked to a moon goddess, adopted a dinosaur and saved a small[Read More…]
Rachel Alexander
PHOTOS: Watch workers use liquid foam to preserve Salem’s Peace Mosaic
Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Saving a mosaic on the side of a brick building was a new challenge for most of the people involved in the demolition of Salem’s[Read More…]
Uncategorized Wash your hands! Flu season has officially hit Salem.
Salem Hospital (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) Flu cases are on the rise in the Salem area, and health officials are urging people who haven’t gotten a flu vaccine this season to do so. About 145 Willamette Valley residents tested positive for the flu the week of Dec. 8, the[Read More…]
Uncategorized From schools to Star Wars, meet the Salem educators who spend weekends as Chewbacca
Tom Beckett, dressed as Chewbacca, greets a fan at a Star Wars Oregon event at Christmas Storybook Land in Albany on Dec. 15, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Most people have some way of unwinding after a stressful day at work. For Thomas Beckett, it’s dressing up as a Wookie. Beckett,[Read More…]
Uncategorized Six middle schools lose after school programs as Salem-Keizer Education Foundation cuts costs
Kelly Carlisle, left, executive director of the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation, and Jeff Aeschliman, board president, talk at the foundation’s office in downtown Salem (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer Education Foundation leaders are cutting after school programs serving 800 local middle school students and may sell their downtown building to further cut[Read More…]
Uncategorized School board members moved to tears after conversations about equity, racism in Salem-Keizer
Dean Wright, left, a Judson Middle School social studies teacher, and Pete Teller, a Leslie Middle School counselor, talk to school board director Kathy Goss at a Dec. 17, 2019 work session on equity (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Dean Wright sat in a chair against the wall of the Salem-Keizer School[Read More…]
Uncategorized In Tijuana, thousands of families stuck in ‘Kafkaesque’ U.S. asylum process
Families sleep in tents at a migrant shelter in Tijuana as they wait for the U.S. government to process asylum claims. (Courtesy/Warren Binford) In a canyon outside Tijuana, Mexico, hundreds of families crowded together in tents inside a shelter, waiting to apply for asylum in the U.S. The shelter bathroom[Read More…]
Chemeketa hits lowest number of students in more than a decade
Chemeketa Community College (File/Salem Reporter) Enrollment at Chemeketa Community College is the lowest it’s been in over a decade, with 625 fewer students this fall than compared to last year. Nearly 11,900 students were taking a course at Chemeketa the fourth week of fall quarter, according to state data released[Read More…]
Uncategorized They used to live on the streets. Now they hand out sleeping bags.
Max Marshall opens a trailer to unload donations to be passed out by Be Bold Street Ministries (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) A dozen volunteers formed an assembly line out the door of the south Salem Big 5 Sporting Goods, just a few minutes before the store opened Friday morning. They filled[Read More…]
Uncategorized Homeless women in Salem get new chance for a safe night indoors
Rhonda Wolf, CEO of United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley, shows one of the rooms used for Safe Sleep, a new shelter for homeless women at Inside Out Ministries (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) A new shelter for homeless women in central Salem has sprung to life in just a few months[Read More…]
