People walk in front of shops in downtown Salem in December. (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) The city of Salem is considering laying internet infrastructure in downtown to either lease out or manage like a utility. Since December, the city has been looking to hire a consultant to help officials[Read More…]
Latest News
AGENDA: Cherriots open comment on revised fees, schedule
A Cherriots bus at the Downtown Transit Center. (Courtesy of Cherriots) Salem Area Mass Transit District Board of Directors will give the first reading of its proposed ordinance, which includes a new fee schedule. • The first reading will precede the open comment period. The board will then take public[Read More…]
AGENDA: Marion County to consider new land uses, justice department-funded position
Wednesday appears to be the busiest meeting so far in 2019 for the Marion County Commission. • Commissioners will consider entering into an agreement with the Oregon District Attorneys Association and the Oregon Department of Justice to help staff the Oregon Child Support Program. The staffer would report to Marion[Read More…]
UPDATED: Police remove burglar from Summer Street home after six-hour standoff
(Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) After a six-hour standoff, Salem police Tuesday removed a burglar who holed up inside a stranger’s home on Northeast Summer Street earlier in the morning. The man is being treated for injuries, police said. No one else was hurt. The man broke into several homes[Read More…]
School board wants to hear from you about proposed Salem-Keizer boundary changes
The Salem-Keizer School Board is seeking comments about a plan to change school boundaries that would affect thousands of students and families. The new boundaries, together with ongoing school construction, are designed to address overcrowding based on population projections and would take effect next school year. Families can seek an[Read More…]
PHOTOS: Hundreds march to Capitol to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Cynthia Richardson, the Salem-Keizer school district’s director of equity, sings “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” at Salem’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on Jan. 21, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Several hundred people marched from North Salem High School to the Oregon Capitol to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in[Read More…]
High school students lead Salem reflection on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
High school students march to the Oregon Capitol to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s face projected on a screen behind her, Leanette Mabinton whipped her braids across her face and raised her arms in dancing praise. The McKay High School[Read More…]
Mayor calls on Marion County, Salem Health to help pay for proposed sobering center
Mayor Chuck Bennett in September at the ribbon cutting of the Career and Technical Education Center. Bennett on Friday called on Salem Health and Marion County to help the city pay for a sobering center to treat severely intoxicated people. (Salem Reporter files) A ballooning budget for a sobering center[Read More…]
Taylor’s House offers a home for young people with nowhere else to go
Tricia Ratliff, who runs youth services for the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, explains how the house chore board works. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Most of the young people living at Taylor’s House are reluctant to talk about their lives with strangers. But a row of cubbies along the living room[Read More…]
Recent stories on Oregon’s system for dealing with the criminally insane contained errors, flawed data
The Oregon State Hospital in Salem, which treats those who are found “guilty except for insanity.” (The Enterprise/File) NOTE: Salem Reporter republished articles jointly produced by the Malheur Enterprise and ProPublica. The news organizations have published this correction to those reports. Les Zaitz, editor of Salem Reporter, is also editor[Read More…]