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.
School board members moved to tears after conversations about equity, racism in Salem-Keizer
Dean Wright, left, a Judson Middle School social studies teacher, and Pete Teller, a Leslie Middle School counselor, talk to school board director Kathy Goss at a Dec. 17, 2019 work session on equity (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Dean Wright sat…
In Tijuana, thousands of families stuck in ‘Kafkaesque’ U.S. asylum process
Families sleep in tents at a migrant shelter in Tijuana as they wait for the U.S. government to process asylum claims. (Courtesy/Warren Binford) In a canyon outside Tijuana, Mexico, hundreds of families crowded together in tents inside a shelter, waiting…
Chemeketa hits lowest number of students in more than a decade
Chemeketa Community College (File/Salem Reporter) Enrollment at Chemeketa Community College is the lowest it’s been in over a decade, with 625 fewer students this fall than compared to last year. Nearly 11,900 students were taking a course at Chemeketa the…
They used to live on the streets. Now they hand out sleeping bags.
Max Marshall opens a trailer to unload donations to be passed out by Be Bold Street Ministries (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) A dozen volunteers formed an assembly line out the door of the south Salem Big 5 Sporting Goods, just a…
Homeless women in Salem get new chance for a safe night indoors
Rhonda Wolf, CEO of United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley, shows one of the rooms used for Safe Sleep, a new shelter for homeless women at Inside Out Ministries (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) A new shelter for homeless women in central…
PHOTOS: YMCA demolition and Salem Peace Mosaic preservation
Staton demolition workers bring down the remaining pieces of the Salem YMCA on Dec. 11, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Field superintendent Jayson Valech paused as a piece of concrete crashed down, the force of the impact reverberating down Northeast Court…
AGENDA: Salem-Keizer School Board considering superintendent contract change, property tax exemption
The 2019-20 Salem-Keizer School Board (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer school board members will consider changing Superintendent Christy Perry’s contract at a Tuesday night meeting to reflect legislative changes to retirement benefits for public employees. If the contract change is approved,…
Howard Street prepares for move to new downtown school
The new Howard Street Charter School location in downtown Salem was once a grocery store, then a state building (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem’s oldest charter school gets a new home soon. Students at Howard Street Charter School will start January…
Caesar the Llama promoting blood drives in memory of teenage friend who died of cancer
AvaLynn Hosmer, left, and Caesar, meet at an October 2019 event for Hosmer’s homecoming. (Courtesy/Kimberly Hosmer) Salem’s celebrity llama wants your blood. Caesar, the four-year-old therapy llama who regularly makes public appearances at events around western Oregon, is expanding his…
Did you have a good year? Help those who didn’t…
The Christmas tree at the Oregon State Capitol (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) It’s cold, days are short and holiday lights are going up around Salem. If you’re looking to make the darkest part of the year a little brighter…