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.
VOTE 2020: Election workers begin processing local ballots as Oregon voter turnout soars
Election workers remove ballots from envelopes to prepare for scanning at the Marion County elections office on Oct. 27, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) With one week to go until the Nov. 3 election, Marion County’s election office is humming. For…
With cases spiking, Marion County offers free Covid testing event at state fairgrounds
A Covid-19 test swab is packaged up to be tested during a free drive-through testing clinic at Woodburn Ambulance Service on Tuesday, August 25. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Marion County is hosting a free Covid testing clinic at the Oregon State…
VOTE 2020: Here’s what happens to your ballot after you drop it in an Oregon drop box
Steve Bauman, right, and Paul Butler, elections workers, collect ballots from a drop box in Keizer on Thursday, October 23. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) When Paul Butler and Steve Bauman unlocked the ballot drop box outside Keizer City Hall, they found…
Part art, part spiritual exercise, a Salem woman memorializes people dead from Covid
On the lawn of her Salem home, Amy Vandegrift has installed plastic headstones, one for every thousand American lives lost to COVID-19. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) With Halloween a week away, it’s not hard to find gravestones adorning local lawns. But…
In Salem, a handful of elementary school students get in-person help with school
Highland Elementary School students enter the school library for brief in-person classes on Oct. 20, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) At 9:15 a.m. on a recent morning, Highland Elementary School principal Christi Cheever stood outside the school’s side entrance. The school’s…
This week, your local beer or wine purchase can help Salem kids
A child in day care at the Boys & Girls Club of Salem on August 13, 2020 starts on a DIY lava lamp project (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) If you’ve been looking for a chance to stock up on local beer…
Health officials tell Oregon office workers to mask up
Libby Anderson serves coffee at Archive with a mask and safe distancing on June 17, 2020. (Cathy Cheney/Salem Reporter) All workers in Oregon are now required to wear masks indoors even if they stay 6 feet away from others, the…
A month in, local schools report most kids are showing up for virtual classes
Miranda Lara Ruiz, 16, left, and Marina Melnychuk pick up items from their lockers at McKay High School on Thursday, September 3. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Oregon so far has little picture of how hundreds of thousands of students are faring…
Oregon Health Authority begs Oregonians to limit social gatherings as Covid cases, hospitalizations continue to rise
The popular statue of former Governor Tom McCall in Salem’s Riverfront Park, got a pandemic update(Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter) The number of Oregonians hospitalized with Covid is climbing, and health officials said current models forecast an alarming rise in new cases…
School board signs off on $11 million plan to hire more reading teachers, community outreach and social workers
Jared Vergara Santana writes down research questions for his newspaper article in the Hoover Elementary School library on Oct. 29, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer schools will begin hiring more social workers and teachers this week after the school board…