Rachel Alexander
Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
After Marion County lands state money, walking to school will be safer in east Salem
Brenda Vollmar, an instructional assistant at Myers Elementary School, and teacher Tyler Lewis greet arriving students on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) By 2023, crossing busy streets will be a little safer for hundreds of students who walk…
Thousands more Covid vaccines coming to Salem as state speeds up timeline
Salem Health began a Covid vaccine clinic at the state fairgrounds on Jan. 7 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) It’s about to become a lot easier to get vaccinated against Covid in Salem. Gov. Kate Brown on Friday said Oregon would speed…
After helping write landmark laws and keeping Salem’s nonprofits humming, Ken Sherman retires
Ken Sherman Jr. holds out a treat for Max the cat in the library of his condo in downtown Salem on Wednesday, March 24. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Ken Sherman Jr. is the first to admit that the minutiae of Oregon’s…
Data shows more than 80% of Salem-Keizer elementary school students opted to return in-person
Giovanni Fajardo Perez, a student in Crystal Magee’s kindergarten and first grade classroom, uses colored pencils on the first day back to school at Richmond Elementary on Tuesday, March 2. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The vast majority of elementary school families…
A chaotic, gratifying first year for Salem’s new primary care clinic
Dr. Rashanda Brown, front right, poses with the other practitioners at South Salem Primary Care in February 2020. The clinic opened with physicians assistants Christine Rue, front left, and Alyssa Schmidt, back left, and Dr. Paula Spencer (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)…
Oregon will allow less space between students in class, but Salem-Keizer not planning changes
A student follows one-way arrows to get to her desk at Richmond Elementary on Tuesday, March 2. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The Oregon Department of Education on Monday said schools can seat students closer together in classrooms – a change that…
Wanted: Salem high school students who love hands-on learning
Science teacher Jasmine Filley works with Lincoln Feiring, a year two student in the agriscience program at the Career Technical Education Center, to set up a team meeting on Wednesday, March 17, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Most Salem high school…
New bubble exhibit will welcome the first kids back to Gilbert House
Gilbert House Children’s Museum on Friday, March 12, 2020. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) A ghostly ping echoes off the walls inside the Gilbert House Children’s Museum. The historic home near Riverfront Park would normally be filled with the sounds of children…
Neighborhood by neighborhood, a new project wants to change the odds for Salem’s kids
Hallman Elementary students gather during the school’s morning assembly in March 2019. (Fred Joe/Special to Salem Reporter) In the decades he led Salem’s Catholic Community Services, Jim Seymour’s job was to help kids and families with health care, housing and…
Cowboy costumes, baby chicks mark first day back for fourth and fifth graders
Fourth grade students work on an assignment in Stephanie Madison’s classroom on the first day back to in-person class for fourth and fifth grade students at Myers Elementary School on Wednesday, March 17, 2020. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Stephanie Madison, a…