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 takes to the streets to remember Martin Luther King Jr.
Children march along Lancaster Drive during Salem’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) “This march is not about the numbers. It’s about the commitment.” Benny Williams, Salem-Keizer’s NAACP president, kicked off Salem’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day…
Get connected with jobs, housing and healthcare at Salem’s annual MLK Day celebration
Salem residents pray on the Oregon Capitol steps during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem residents can celebrate a civil rights leader’s legacy and get help with healthcare, housing and more at this…
Willamette University has a new major: public health
The Willamette University campus in Salem (Courtesy/Willamette University) Aspiring doctors, epidemiologists, social workers and others can now major in public health at Willamette University. Oregon’s oldest university is rolling out the program this spring, and professors spearheading it said interest…
Thousands of online charter students won’t get new Oregon schools money
Micah Zavala logs in to his student account at the Baker Web Academy student center in Salem as his mother, Sara, and school support Suzy Kottek look on. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Schools serving thousands of Oregon students online won’t see…
After school programs out of reach for 200,000 Oregon kids
Art teacher Brenda Dobbins slides a ring made of a recycled seltzer can onto the finger of Leslie Villaseñor, a 6th grade student at Leslie Middle School, during art class at 2019 migrant summer school. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) More than…
Hallman, Myers students surprise Salem-Keizer school board members with colorful portraits
Salem-Keizer superintendent Christy Perry passes out portraits from Hallman Elementary School students at a Jan. 14, 2020 school board meeting (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer school board members got a framed surprise at an otherwise uneventful Tuesday night meeting. To celebrate…
Salem Health CEO hops in backhoe to kick off hospital expansion
Cheryl Nester Wolfe, Salem Heath president and CEO, turns over dirt on the site of a new hospital building during a groundbreaking ceremony on Jan. 14, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) One hundred twenty-four years ago, a group of citizens stood…
AGENDA: Apartment building tax exemption, Student Success update on tap for Salem-Keizer school board
The 2019-20 Salem-Keizer School Board (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer school board members will consider a property tax exemption for a 30-unit apartment building at their meeting Tuesday, Jan. 13. Board members will vote on exempting Parke 325, a new building…
The Salem Public Library is moving in a few weeks. Here’s what you need to know
A library-goer checks out a book at Salem Public Library. (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) A butcher paper tree is taped to the wall at the Salem Public Library between the nonfiction new arrivals and the fiction stacks. A sign…
Salem-Keizer’s unpaid school lunch debt has ballooned to $445,000 in just a few years
A school lunch served at Englewood Elementary School on May 20, 2019. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer families owe the school district nearly half a million dollars for unpaid school breakfasts and lunches, most of it accumulated since a 2017 state…