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 over 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.
Salem Health will begin vaccinating eligible health care, long-term care facility workers at state fairgrounds
Salem Hospital (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) Salem Health will begin vaccinating Marion County health care workers and others now eligible for the Covid vaccine Thursday at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. The announcement comes after the Oregon Health Authority on…
All Oregon health care workers, long-term care facility residents and employees now eligible for Covid vaccine
Lane Hawkes, emergency room nurse, receives a Covid vaccine at Salem Hospital on Dec. 17 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) The much-anticipated Covid vaccine will soon be available to Salem’s dentists, therapists, primary care doctors and other health care workers employed outside…
Salem-Keizer board member criticized for violating state Covid rules with maskless New Year’s party
A screenshot from Jesse Lippold’s Instagram shows him attending a maskless New Year’s party with about a dozen friends. A Salem-Keizer School Board Director is facing criticism after attending a maskless New Year’s party with about a dozen friends. Jesse…
Doctor from Salem makes waves with paper on racial bias in common medical device
Dr. Michael Sjoding (Courtesy photo) As Michael Sjoding began caring for more Covid patients in the spring of 2020, he noticed something concerning. Sjoding, who was born and raised in Salem, is now a doctor specializing in critical care pulmonology…
TOP STORIES: Covid outbreaks, empty schools and holding government accountable – a reporter’s look at Salem’s year
Rachel Alexander chats data with Lillian Govus, then the communications director for Salem-Keizer School District, at a July 10 meeting on school reopening. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Salem, it has been a year. After living through 2020, I finally understand why…
After a decade, a new leader takes the helm of Salem-Keizer’s NAACP
Reginald Richardson, the new president of the Salem-Keizer NAACP, poses for a portrait on Friday, Dec. 18. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) As Salem residents joined a nationwide call for racial justice over the summer, Reginald Richardson began thinking about changing the…
Excitement, fear and little clarity in Salem as governor gives school districts a path toward reopening
James Gough, an incoming kindergartner at Kalapuya Elementary School, works on an assessment test to gauge his alphabet comprehension on Thursday, September 17. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Christy Perry wants to get Salem’s kids back in schools in 2021. But the…
Credit union honors 10 volunteers who made 2020 a little less hard in the Salem area
Alice Swanson, right, and other volunteers prepare a meal at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Woodburn (Courtesy/Terri Gonzalez) Alice Swanson worried about her neighbors going without food after the Covid pandemic shut down much of Woodburn in the spring. So she…
Path for more Oregon kids in the classroom opens in 2021 as governor makes reopening decisions local
An empty classroom at Stevens Middle School on Aug. 18, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) This article was updated at 4:06 p.m. Thousands of Oregon students could be back in school by mid-February after Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday that local…
With theaters closed around Oregon, Enlightened Theatrics shifts focus to small shows for students
Miette Hanowell, center, performs in a November 2020 Enlightened Theatrics production of “101 Dalmatians” at the Grand Theatre (Courtesy/Enlightened Theatrics) Miette Hanowell landed her first paid acting role at age 11, playing Emily, the child at the center of a…