By Salem Reporter
State Capitol security to install metal detectors, start checking visitors for weapons
Oregon State Capitol (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) New safety measures intended to keep guns and weapons outside of the Oregon Capitol building will take effect Jan. 27. Anyone entering the building will have to pass through a metal detector,…
Salem woman who faced her own struggles with drug addiction now helps other women toward recovery
Melissa Pola (Ardeshir Tabrizian/Salem Reporter) When Melissa Pola first walked into Her Place in Salem on Nov. 23, 2011, she dropped to her knees and started crying. After spending seven months in jail and enduring two decades of addiction, she’d…
Data digest: Covid by the numbers for Jan. 12, 2022
Salem Hospital (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) As Covid hospitalizations continue to rise again due to the omicron variant, Salem Reporter is again publishing case and hospitalization information daily. Here’s our report for Wednesday, Jan. 12. Total Salem Hospital patients with Covid:…
McNary evacuated over anonymous bomb threat; no bomb found
McNary High School in Keizer (Mary Louise VanNatta/Special to Salem Reporter) McNary High School was evacuated Wednesday afternoon after receiving an anonymous bomb threat. Law enforcement and district security investigated the premises before deeming the school safe later that afternoon.…
UPDATE: 69-year-old south Salem man found after being reported missing
Robert Lee Skinner, Jr. (Courtesy/Salem Police Department) UPDATE: Robert Lee Skinner, Jr., was found safe and his family has been notified, the Salem Police Department said in a news release. The agency had asked Wednesday for the public’s help in…
Oregon attorney general warns about fraudulent Covid testing sites, overpriced tests
Oregon’s attorney general issued a warning Wednesday, advising people to be cautious of testing sites that seem suspicious or vendors selling overpriced at-home tests. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said her office is keeping a “vigilant eye” on the marketplace and…
Woman arrested after walking away from corrections department warehouse in Salem, another still at large
(Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) A woman who in October walked away from a work crew at an Oregon Department of Corrections warehouse in Salem was arrested Tuesday night in Texas. The Robertson County Sheriff’s Office arrested Brandy Woodward three months after…
Forest Service withdraws logging plans in Beachie Creek Fire area after environmentalist lawsuit
Fire smolders in the forest days after the Beachie Creek Fire tore through Santiam Canyon communities over Labor Day weekend 2020(Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter) The U.S. Forest Service is going back to the drawing board on plans to reopen portions of…
What to know about Covid testing in Marion, Polk counties
Rapid Covid tests are in short supply, as this sign in a Salem Walgreens in Jan. 11, 2022 illustrates (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter) Salem Reporter is making this information free as a community service. Subscriptions help support our work. With Covid…
State corrections reports spike in Covid cases among employees, people in prison over past two weeks
(Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Covid cases have skyrocketed in the past two weeks among prisoners and staff at the Oregon Department of Corrections, leaving several state prisons short-staffed. As of Tuesday afternoon, the corrections department has reported 274 people in state…