Category Marion & Polk County
Marion County leaders sidestep complaint over transgender discrimination
Offices for Willamette Valley Community Health, where Behavioral Care Network holds its meetings. Both entities oversee healthcare for low-income residents in Marion and Polk counties. (Jessica Floum/The Lund Report) A political game of chicken has hit a regional healthcare bureaucracy that’s leaving the transgender community…
Marion County gives trash burner another year to win state tax credits
Covanta Marion, a trash incinerator in Brooks, burns roughly 170,000 tons of garbage every year. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Local garbage will be shipped to Brooks another year under a deal approved by Marion County commissioners that will avoid a shutdown and gives the plant operator…
Marion County sheriff intervenes after witnessing racist act
Marion County Courthouse (Anna CK Smith/Salem Reporter) Blatant racism often lives in the shadows of the internet, but on Tuesday Marion County’s top cop witnessed it in broad daylight outside of a Salem coffee shop. Three Latino guys were sitting at IKE Box when a…
Marion County, Covanta continue seeking ‘renewable’ status amid threats to close plant
Marion County’s waste disposal partner was unable to secure from 2019 legislators a lucrative deal that would deem the company a renewable energy producer and now the Brooks plant’s future is in question. Now, Covanta and the county are publicly making veiled threats that, if…
Hubbard man suing Marion County alleging he was cited, arrested over mistaken identity
A Hubbard resident is suing Marion County for mistakenly blaming him for a crime, leading to his arrest, despite a deputy getting an in-person confession from the actual culprit. Christian Espinoza is seeking $100,000 in a suit filed July 24 in Marion County Circuit Court.…
Leaked investigation leads to two actions against Marion County
Marion County continues to deal with the fallout from a public sexual discrimination dispute last October, with its top officials now accused of violating civil rights and worker protections. A fired supervisor contends he shouldn’t have been fired, while another staffer is on paid leave…
Complaint over public funding for transgender training stalls after Marion County leaders skip meeting
A complaint stemming from two Marion County commissioners’ move to defund training for therapists who work with transgender people is no closer to a resolution one month later. Commissioner Colm Willis, the target of the complaint, wrote in emails this week to fellow board members…
Retiring Sheriff Myers reflects on changes, challenges to law enforcement
Marion County Sheriff Jason Myers poses for a photo near his offices on June 10. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) After nearly 10 years as Marion County sheriff, Jason Myers holds two maxims about the job: there’s more to it than enforcing the law, and it demands…
Marion County taps internal candidate Kast as next sheriff
The Marion County Courthouse There’s a new sheriff in town, although he has been with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for more than two decades. On Thursday, the Marion County Board of Commissioners selected Cmdr. Joe Kast to replace outgoing Sheriff Jason Myers, who is…