Reporter Jake Thomas at a protest at the Capitol on Dec. 21. (Jake Thomas/Salem Reporter)
Even before the pandemic hit Oregon, 2020 had already been a remarkable year for news.
As the novel coronavirus reached the U.S., the Legislature was wrapping up a session consumed by sweeping climate change bill that drew a massive demonstration at the Capitol, Republicans bolting the building to prevent a vote and the governor issuing an expansive executive.
After the session wrapped, I turned my attention to how the pandemic upended the economy and daily life. Months later, Salem, and the rest of the country, began a national reckoning on racism and police violence.
On top of that, there was a hugely consequential election. The pandemic also continued. This year has felt like a great turning in history.
Hoping to keep his place in Oregon, a trucker heads to Salem
During the regular 2020 legislative session, thousands of people state descended on the Capitol.
They were part of the TimberUnity movement protesting a carbon-reduction bill they worried would upend their livelihoods. Part of the protest included a massive convoy of commercial trucks. I got up at 4 a.m. to ride down from the Portland area with one of these truckers.
After spending hours in the cab with Jeremy Stinnett, a truck driver from Yamhill County, it struck me that this wasn’t just about livelihoods. This was also about a community that felt its way of life was threatened.
They didn’t want to live in cities or get “green jobs” and state leaders had a long way to go to convince them that they’d protect their interests. This story revealed for me that how the state responds to climate change won’t be a matter of economics but also identity.
After an early release, one former prisoner faces a world reshaped by the pandemic
I had no idea what to expect when I arranged in July to meet Jessica Rogers-Hall, 38 of Salem, who had been released from prison early. Over the summer, Gov. Kate Brown began commuting the sentences of medically vulnerable prisoners as the coronavirus spread quickly behind bars. Rogers-Hall was one of them.
Formerly incarcerated people already face huge hurdles after their release, circumstances made worse by the pandemic and its accompanying economic slump. But Rogers-Hall had a stunningly sunny disposition. And her upbeat attitude wasn’t just because she was free.
I’d heard rumors for weeks that it would be happening.
On March 10, Gov. Kate Brown issued a sweeping executive order aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon. The move followed two failed efforts at the Legislature to create a cap-and-trade style greenhouse gas reduction system for Oregon.
This was one of the last “normal” political stories I wrote before the pandemic upended life as we know it. But at the time, this was an extraordinary story with the governor taking unprecedented action that’s expected to affect fuels, buildings and consumer appliances
After being dark for months, projectors will again light up Salem Cinema
I’ve spent this year reporting lots of depressing economic news. My story about Loretta Miles, the owner of Salem Cinema, was another story about a struggling business.
But it stood out because she had such a compelling story about how she turned her life’s passion into her life’s work in a way she never expected. Salem Cinema is part of a community of film enthusiasts. Now, its future is uncertain.
A Salem legacy business gets an unexpected boost from the pandemic
My story about Oregon Fruit Products, which processes canned fruit, reminds me of what I like about reporting on Salem. This is a business that people don’t think about much but has been here for decades and has national reach. It makes me think about all the ways that Salem’s economy is connected to the rest of the world in ways not readily apparent.
Salem police chief justifies different treatment for armed civilians downtown during curfew
Protests swept across the country following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. That included Salem. I remember police taking a knee at a Salem protest in June and then officers escorting protesters to the police headquarters.
I’ll also remember the aftermath. Despite the conciliatory moves by police, officers still rolled out in riot gear later that night.
That move sparked outrage after a video surfaced of an officer taking a lighter touch with a group of men armed with long rifles outside of Glamour Salon in downtown Salem. The salon had drawn headlines after its owner defied pandemic regulations. This has been a strange year for news. That night, multiple strange stories collided.
Some charged with crimes linked to Salem protests said they were just trying to leave
When news outlets publish information from police about arrests and charges, there’s often another side of the story. I was really pleased when we provided that other side. Following a large protest against police brutality in June, Salem police released the names and charges of people arrested at the event.
Afterward, we started reviewing court documents and people arrested at the protest started reaching out to us. We uncovered a similar story: Those arrested said they were trying to go home but were cornered by police. Eventually, the charges were dropped. I’m grateful to those that shared their accounts with us.
With online auctions and an outpouring of support, Enchanted Forest will open for another season
Salem needed this news, as did probably a lot of people around Oregon. In October, Enchanted Forest, a beloved and quirky amusement park south of Salem, announced it was struggling because of pandemic restrictions and would go bust without donations.
Supporters of the park stepped up and raised $360,000 for the family-owned park that’s been around for nearly half a century. The pandemic has changed a lot about life. But it’s good to know Enchanted Forest will be open again next year.
After living in Oregon for so long, I’ve begun taking voting by mail for granted. When an unprecedented number of states began adopting the practice in the 2020 election, I was struck by the negative reaction by so many in other states.
But it all started to make sense after I interviewed Al Davidson, a former Marion County clerk who helped pioneer Oregon’s vote-by-mail system. He explained that, at the time, it was a big shift for the way people most directly engage in politics.
Getting people to accept voting by mail required a sustained effort that took years. However, he explained the rest of the country didn’t have that time to prepare.
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