Downtown streets will be closed starting March 2, 2020 for street and traffic changes around the new Salem Police headquarters (Courtesy/City of Salem) Expect more traffic in downtown Salem starting Monday as the City of Salem finishes construction on the new downtown police station. Liberty Street Northeast will be closed[Read More…]
Rachel Alexander
School board to vote on final $35 million spending plan for Salem-Keizer
Educators and parents packed a school board meeting Feb. 18, 2020 to speak about a $35 million Salem-Keizer schools spending plan. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) The Salem-Keizer School Board is expected to vote Tuesday night on a sweeping $35 million plan to hire 240 more employees, create new after school programs,[Read More…]
South Salem students can now earn college business credits through Oregon Tech partnership
South Salem High School sophomores Arnav Mohindra, left, Ali Kirk and Holly Kansky practice a DECA presentation in the school library on Feb. 20, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) South Salem High School students taking business and marketing classes can now earn college credit, potentially saving thousands of dollars. The school[Read More…]
As U.S. celebrates 100 years of women voting, Willamette professor chronicles how Oregon suffragists won the ballot
Cindy Richards, professor of civic communication and media at Willamette University, holds a copy of the 1909 Washington Women’s Cook Book, a publication from the state’s suffrage association (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) In 1872, at least four Oregon women attempted to vote in the U.S. presidential election as part of a[Read More…]
Salem-Keizer spending plan draws pushback from teachers, support from Latino parents
Educators and parents packed a school board meeting Feb. 18, 2020 to speak about a $35 million Salem-Keizer schools spending plan. Parent Angelica Lagos, right, approaches the podium. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Dozens of educators and parents waited for more than two hours Tuesday night to have their say on a[Read More…]
Meet the man behind the bubbles going in at the Gilbert House museum
Bill Charnholm talks about bubbles outside Gilbert House Children’s Museum on Feb. 17, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Bill Charnholm grew up building small towns with his Erector Set, then flying toy fighter jets over them. The 75-year-old giggles while recounting playing in his bedroom in Corvallis with one of the[Read More…]
Mental health, behavior and elementary reading top spending priorities for Salem-Keizer
Salem’s school system would add 240 full-time employees, lengthen the middle school day and spend more than $3 million to create more after school programs and eliminate fees to improve local education under a plan being advanced by Salem-Keizer School District administrators. District administrators will present their spending plan at[Read More…]
New south Salem clinic aims to be neighborhood doctor’s office
Physician assistant Christine Rue, left, doctors Paula Spencer and Rashanda Brown, and physician assistant Alyssa Schmidt, front, are the staff of the new South Salem Primary Care clinic (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) When two of Salem’s largest medical providers merged last fall, a handful of local doctors decided on a change[Read More…]
After losing close friend to suicide, Willamette senior works to get young men to seek help
Willamette University senior Brendan McGonigle wants to encourage more young men to talk about mental health (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) When Brendan McGonigle was a freshman at Willamette University, he lost a childhood friend to suicide. The event spurred McGonigle, now a senior exercise and health science major, to do more[Read More…]
Salem-Keizer raising pay for bus drivers, transportation workers
School buses parked in the Salem-Keizer School District lot on Hawthorne Avenue (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Hoping to curb a persistent bus driver shortage, the Salem-Keizer School District is raising pay for drivers and other transportation workers. Starting bus drivers will now earn $17.47 hourly, up from a previous wage of[Read More…]