Good morning…..

Saturday’s mish-mash of weather yields to a calmer Sunday.

You can look forward to a little sunshine today, says the National Weather Service, but keep the winter coats and hats handy. The temperature hovered about 18 overnight and is forecast to get no higher than 27 today.

The forecast is warning of a return to miserable weather Tuesday with a chance of freezing rain. Our news team will keep a close eye on those forecasts and keep you posted.

Meantime, we’re getting close to Salem Reporter’s Town Hall on Violence.

I met virtually with the experts on our panel last week. They are preparing a powerful presentation well worth your time.

And, to a person, the panelists will be sharing a path forward for a safer Salem. That includes how you or anyone can play a role.

You can get free tickets online HERE. This is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17, at the Elsinore. (If you want to help us with costs, you can donate to our News Fund.)

CCMedia will broadcast the event live on Channel 21 and stream it on Youtube.

And in a special arrangement, Salem Reporter has retained an interpreter who will record the entire session in Spanish. CCMedia will offer this Spanish version soon after the event.

The background on this community event is in my earlier Editor’s Note.

Ahead of the Town Hall, reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian sat down with Salem Police Chief Trevor Womack to hear his plans. The chief, who will be on the panel, outlined his response to the recent gun violence report.

In other news in recent days, one of the most-read stories we published was Managing Editor Rachel Alexander’s look at an aviation program for high school students. Readers had a lot of praise for the Salem-Keizer School District’s work to give students valuable skills.

In other aviation news, reporter Abbey McDonald checked back to see how Avelo is doing with commercial flights out of Salem. The airline reports strong demand.

In their own version of a town hall, local high school students put on a forum related to school funding. They had some advice for school district leaders.

And that giant globe down on the riverfront? Its 86,000 tiles need attention and supporters are raising money.

We continue to keep an eye on the criminal case involving the DEA agent accused of killing a Salem cyclist last year. The Oregon Department of Justice is challenging a federal judge’s ruling in the case.

Our team also took a look back at weather highlights from 2023 and what’s going on in Salem neighborhoods.

That’s your look at some of our reports in recent days. Find every story anytime on our website.

ABOUT OUR WORK….

At Salem Reporter, we work continually to refine our reporting to deliver news and information that truly matters to the community.

Not everything is a big story or big headline. But we’re delivering the sort of information that helps you know your town better, to be aware of where you can plug in.

YOU CAN HELP.

SUBSCRIBE: If you aren’t yet a subscriber, become one today. That gives you full access to all the news on our website.  You also get our popular morning and evening newsletters, delivered to your email during the week. The cost is $10 a month, $100 for the year. Sign up HERE.

CONTRIBUTE: We can always use support for our News Fund. This is used to cover the costs of getting public records and to cover the costs for a college internship. Donate any amount HERE.

As always, thank you for reading and feel free to reach out to me anytime at [email protected] with ideas, questions or concerns.

–Les Zaitz, CEO and editor