Natalie Bean arrived to fireworks and celebration at 12:03 a.m. on Jan. 1.
COMMUNITY
How families worked together to transform a Salem neighborhood
A family council created to support families around Hallman Elementary School has residents reporting they feel safer going to the park and letting kids walk to school. A similar effort is now underway near Kennedy Elementary School.
Cherriots free youth ticket program leads to increase in ridership
Data shows that in the months after Cherriots launched its Youth Zero Pass program, young people took thousands more trips than in the months prior.
TOP STORIES: Police policy ignored, an unusual city departure and mobile crisis teams
Reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian looks back on a year of covering homelessness, criminal justice, and Salem-area services for addiction and mental illness.
Salem’s top reads of 2022
Dav Pilkey’s “Dog Man” and the current Salem Reads pick, Born a Crime, topped the list of most checked out Salem Public Library books in 2022.
Awesome 3000 to return for 2023
United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley is bringing back the race as part of an ambitious plan to establish funds supporting every school in the Salem-Keizer School District.
TOP STORIES: From a kitten crisis to new Ukrainian neighbors
Managing Editor Rachel Alexander looks back on a year of covering inflation, new murals in Salem and yet another odd school year.
Meet the data nerd working to make Oregon government better
As Oregon’s first Chief Data Officer, Kathryn Darnall Helms helps state agencies gather and use information about everything from cow manure to worker’s compensation disputes.
COLUMN: Oregon’s early Christmas celebrations
From the Corps of Discovery to gold rush settlers in Salem, Sue Bird of the Willamette Valley Genealogical Society pulls from historic documents and newspaper accounts to chronicle the first century of recorded Christmases in Oregon.
PHOTOS: Salem’s birds get their slide on
As ice blanketed Salem Friday, photojournalist Ron Cooper captured birds struggling to stay upright at his backyard bird feeder.