Salem Reporter's news summary for you

Good morning…..

Tomorrow could be a grim day at the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Western University of Health Sciences Lebanon Oregon

Gov. Tina Kotek has said as many as 700 agency employees will lose their jobs starting on Monday.

That’s because Oregon legislators ended the 2025 session without passing new state fees and taxes to cover highway costs.

The Legislature adjourned just before midnight Friday and our colleagues at Oregon Capital Chronicle have a good summary of what happened and didn’t happen.

Salem scored some wins, though. Our team in the coming days will examine the results and what the community can expect. We’ll also check in with the area’s legislators for their assessment of months of work.

Meantime, the expanded Salem Reporter crew served up a big menu of stories in recent days. Hailey Cook and Mirandah Davis-Powell jumped right into action within hours of checking in to our newsroom Monday.

We took a short break for a new “family” photo – the people working hard to bring you local news you can trust to be accurate and fair.

The Salem Reporter news team includes, from left, Managing Editor Rachel Alexander, reporters Hailey Cook, Madeleine Moore, Mirandah Davis-Powell, Abbey McDonald, Joe Siess, Ardeshir Tabrizian and Editor Les Zaitz. (LAURA TESLER/For Salem Reporter)

On a daily basis, we hear from readers like you. By email, phone or Facebook message, people provide us tips, pose smart questions and comment on our work.

One reader wrote: “Really grateful for your coverage of city council ethics issues –comprehensive – and today’s article on Juneteenth events. Your staff is excellent and exemplifies quality local journalism in this age of newspapers closing across country.”

Another reader wrote with an idea: Why not add weather information to Salem Reporter?

That strikes me as a good idea. Let me know what you think. Send me a note at [email protected]. Would weather information be useful? Or do you get all you need from, say, television forecasters? If we provided information, what do you want to know? Just a forecast? Or some historical data, like the record high or low for the day in Salem?

As you consider your response, take a look at some of the stories we covered in recent days.

In our government reporting…

*Hailey Cook reports on a hefty state fine imposed on outfit that handles a drug take-back program. The state detailed years of violations, which the company is contesting.

*The Salem-Keizer School District is expanding its real estate holdings. This time, it’s buying a former bank call center, as Managing Editor Rachel Alexander reports.

*Reporter Joe Siess explains why you’re seeing signs downtown about new parking rules – but no way to pay the fee.

*The Salem City Council is standing pat on the city’s deal with the airline serving Salem. Activists wanted the contract terminated over immigration-related flights elsewhere.

*State Rep. Greg Smith, a Republican from eastern Oregon, is back in trouble with state ethics regulators. He now faces a new investigation.

In our community news reporting…

*The community’s largest addiction treatment operation lost its contract to counsel students in local schools.

*Artisans who used to show up for the Oregon State Fair are going instead to the Salem’s big annual art fair. They were unhappy with major changes at the state fairgrounds, as Abbey McDonald reports.

*Local doctors and other medical professionals joined the effort to turn up the heat on proposed Medicaid changes. They want Oregon’s congressional delegation to fight cuts.

*Columnist Jim Sellers provides a tutorial on another major federal program – Medicare. He writes: “Here, then, are steps one might take in approaching Medicare for the first time, unwinding what for some are its mysteries.”

In our public safety reporting…

*A wild night of police pursuits, gunfights and a death in West Salem in 2023 resulted in a long prison sentence for a Salem man. Reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian details what happened in an event that coursed through the community.

*The long arm of the law reached into Mexico to track down a suspect in a 2008 murder in Salem. Prosecutors announced the extradition last week.

*New details came out about brutal attacks on two women in a small wooded area in south Salem. A 19-year-old man has now been charged.

HAVE A COMMENT? SUGGESTION?

Have thoughts about our reporting? A story we should do? A person we should profile? Or do you have questions about how we do our work? You’re welcome to send me an email – I read every one of them. Email: [email protected].

–Les Zaitz, Editor and co-founder

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