By Salem Reporter
City warns of recent cougar sighting at Minto-Brown Island Park
A tree in Minto-Brown Island Park. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) A man walking his dog spotted what he believed was a cougar at Minto-Brown Island Park on the orange turtle loop Sunday, May 23. Trevor Smith, Salem’s public works information officer,…
Live comedy returns to the Salem area this weekend
A poster for a comedy show at Keizer Cultural Center hosted by PNW Comedy (Courtesy/ PNW Comedy) As the pandemic wanes, live comedy is returning to the Salem area with PNW Comedy hosting two shows this weekend. Both shows will…
GUEST COLUMN: “Where do they go as we tell them they can’t be anywhere?”
Tents in Wallace Marine Park following the February 2021 ice storm. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) I work at SafeSleep United – a low barrier, year-round women’s shelter. A lady who struggles with mental health lives outside in the area by our…
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Bill closing vape loophole passes Oregon Legislature
(Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons) The Oregon Legislature passed a bill intended to keep vapes and e-cigs out of the hands of teenagers. THE ISSUE: Oregon raised the smoking age to 21, but the use of vape products has proliferated among teenagers. …
Final round of businesses assistance program opens
A closed sign in Engelberg Antiks in downtown Salem on Thursday, March 19, 2020. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) The state’s economic development agency on Wednesday began accepting applications for the last pot of money in a program intended to help small…
SALEM ECONOMIC INDEX: Salem sees housing market reach new highs and signs that hiring is picking up
A home is seen under construction on Vine Maple Drive Southeast above a row of completed homes on Thursday, April 8, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The housing market in Salem and Keizer remains hot. Fewer people in the Salem area…
Friend starts GoFundMe for Salem man who lost everything in storage unit fire
Ismet Yazkurt poses for a portrait in front of Sunnyview Transmissions. He lost everything in a storage unit fire on May 3, 2021. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter. A friend of a Salem man who lost all of his possessions in a…
Oregon Museum of Mental Health to reopen May 28
Kathryn Dysart is a docent and founding board member of the Museum of Mental Health at the Oregon State Hospital. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter) The Museum of Mental Health is reopening its doors after more than a year with a new…
Marion, Polk counties remain thousands of vaccines shy of state targets to loosen restrictions
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) About 28,000 adults living in Marion County still need to get a first dose of Covid vaccine…
Salem area unemployment rate remains essentially unchanged
Construction workers with Mike Riddle Construction build a home in Salem. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The unemployment rate for the Salem area was 5.9% for April remaining essentially unchanged from the 5.8% rate from March. The local unemployment rate again hovered…