Category Profiles
Construction workers put out Salem apartment fire
John Towne (Courtesy/Todd Construction) Josh Towne didn’t grow up wanting to be a firefighter but on Monday, July 26, he got the chance anyway. Towne, 47, a Blodgett resident and construction foreman was at work on a Todd Construction site at South Salem High School…
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 Zoom, one word describes the…
After meandering path marked by ‘oddball invocations,’ Willamette University’s “heart and soul” plans her retirement
Karen Wood, Willamette University chaplain, will retire in July 2021 (Courtesy/Willamette University) For over a decade, Karen Wood, the chaplain at Willamette University, has had a challenging task: addressing hundreds of faculty, students and their family from different faith traditions (or none at all) in…
After helping write landmark laws and keeping Salem’s nonprofits humming, Ken Sherman retires
Ken Sherman Jr. holds out a treat for Max the cat in the library of his condo in downtown Salem on Wednesday, March 24. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Ken Sherman Jr. is the first to admit that the minutiae of Oregon’s wage garnishment laws don’t make…
Salem teenager ranks sixth in the nation in Olympic weightlifting
Emma Dalke, 14, does a clean-and-jerk in the garage of her Salem home on Wednesday, Jan. 6. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) On December 4, Emma Dalke put on a tunic, picked up her weights, and stepped in front of a camera in her Salem garage. The…
Doctor from Salem makes waves with paper on racial bias in common medical device
Dr. Michael Sjoding (Courtesy photo) As Michael Sjoding began caring for more Covid patients in the spring of 2020, he noticed something concerning. Sjoding, who was born and raised in Salem, is now a doctor specializing in critical care pulmonology at the University of Michigan…
Salem volunteer turns experience with cancer into award-winning action
Kathy Ottele of Salem recently received the top award for excellence as the State Lead Ambassador of the Year from the American Cancer Society-Cancer Action Network in a virtual presentation ceremony held in Washington, D.C. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter) Twenty-two years ago, those working at Blue…
Injured vet gets keys to new Salem home, designed to make his life easier
Frank Wasson III, his wife Brooke, daughter Brielle and sons Jackson and Drayson listen to presentations during the ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 22, turning over to them keys to a new home in West Salem. Homes For Our Troops raised the money and organized construction.…
South Salem student journalist becomes daily chronicler of protests
Eddy Binford-Ross, a junior at South Salem High School, photographs the March for Floyd on Saturday, June 6. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) As editor in chief of South Salem High School’s news operation, Eddy Binford-Ross believes that it’s her calling and her responsibility to report on…