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.
State hospital shifts managers to nursing work to get through holiday weekend
The Oregon State Hospital on Friday, May 28, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) A staffing crisis at the Oregon State Hospital means 24 managers will spend Memorial Day weekend covering the jobs of nurses who normally care for the 500 patients…
Traffic improvements, more classrooms coming to Sprague as $43 million construction project begins
By 7:10 a.m., there’s usually a line of cars stretched outside the main entrance at Sprague High School as parents wait to drop their students off. Principal Chad Barkes said the morning back-up is so bad that parents have to…
With thin staff and others working double shifts, state hospital calls for National Guard help
The Oregon State Hospital this week took the unprecedented step of calling for the National Guard to help care for hundreds of Oregon’s most severely mentally ill people. It’s the final step in a five-stage plan the hospital created to…
Oregon State Hospital situation ‘dire,’ National Guard asked to help staffing
The Oregon State Hospital is calling on the National Guard to stem a staffing crisis that has ballooned in recent weeks, with one out of three of the nursing staff on the Salem campus out on leave. Activating the National…
Salem teacher designs shirt commemorating an educational “glitch” year
Isis Thornton-Saunders, director of annual giving for the Boys & Girls Club of Salem, models Causewagon’s “glitch” t-shirt (Courtesy/Boys & Girls Club of Salem) When Dave Pluister thinks back on a year of teaching high school students graphic design over…
To boost Covid vaccination rates, Salem Health plans mobile clinics for local schools
Ingrid Ceballos, left, Four Corners Elementary School principal, and school counselor Kim Siegrist, look over Covid vaccine consent forms at a vaccination clinic held at the school on Friday, May 21, 2021 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Kim Siegrist knows transportation is…
Back from Los Angeles, Salem actor wants to teach teens the craft of theater
Zach DuFault poses for a portrait in downtown Salem on May 10, 2021, wearing a shirt for his new company, The Salem Playhouse (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) When Zach DuFault, 30, graduated from South Salem High School in 2009, he planned…
Two Salem-Keizer school board races too close to call, two are settled in latest ballot count
(Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) A near-final round of ballot counting Thursday afternoon in Marion County appears to have sealed victories for two liberal candidates for the Salem-Keizer School Board, and the passage of a fire levy for Marion County Fire District…
Covid vaccines are now widespread in Oregon, but not everyone wants one
Moderna vaccine doses at a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Centennial Park in Woodburn, Ore. on Thursday, April 1, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Gloria Rohl understands Covid is a serious disease for people with certain health problems. But the 76-year-old…
Early results show progressive candidates sweeping Salem-Keizer school board, fire district to hire new staff
(Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Progressive candidates led in all four Salem-Keizer School District board races following early results Tuesday, with the sole incumbent seeking re-election easily defeated. An initial ballot count at 8 p.m. Tuesday showed Osvaldo Avila, Ashley Carson-Cottingham, Karina…