Posted inJulie Hoy Salem Reporter Vanessa Nordyke

Julie Hoy shows her fear of Vanessa Nordyke by refusing a mayoral debate

Mayor Julie Hoy is breaking new ground in Salem politics. Unfortunately for Hoy, that fresh dirt isn't making her look good. As noted in "Salem Mayor Julie Hoy is guilty of orchestrating an ethics violation, but has the delusion she did nothing wrong," Hoy refuses to admit what is plainly visible: that she was the ringleader of prohibited private conversations with city councilors regarding the city manager's employment status that ran afoul of Oregon's public meetings law. Usually local elected officials apologize for ethics violations, vowing they have learned from their mistake and won't do it again. But Hoy persists…
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Posted inCitizen involvement City of Salem Salem Reporter

Salem’s “news desert” makes it tough for the city to pass a tax increase

In reading a Salem Reporter story about the effort of city officials to get voter approval of a property tax increase in order to deal with a $8 million - $13 million gap between revenues and expenses, I was struck by the several mentions of communicating with the public about this problem. Here's some excerpts from "City Council discusses possible next steps to address budgetary shortfalls" by Joe Siess. Salem city councilors appear ready to put a measure before voters next May to raise property taxes to avoid sweeping cuts to city programs. But councilors made clear during a work…
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Posted inSalem Police Department Salem Reporter

How could a man twice sexually assault women at Minto Brown Park?

Yesterday I got an email from a woman who was understandably upset at learning that David Belluno, who sexually assaulted a woman at Minto Brown Park last Monday afternoon, had sexually assaulted a different woman at Minto Brown Park back in 2018.  David Belluno Her message said: Hi Brian, as I'm sure you've seen, the same criminal let go in 2018 attempted the same crime (attempted kidnapping, rape, assault, etc.) over the weekend in Minto Brown park. I know from your posts that you revere this park as much as I do. I was shocked to see this and I'm…
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Posted inCity of Salem Salem Reporter

Help Salem Reporter fight City of Salem secrecy

I hate it when government officials try to hide important facts from the public. I especially hate it when the officials doing the hiding are employees of the City of Salem. You know, the agency whose slogan is "At Your Service." But for sure not when the folks at City Hall are trying to cover something up. Then their unstated slogan becomes "Good Luck Learning What We Did, Sucker." That's the position the inquiring journalists at the Salem Reporter are in. For quite a few months they've been trying to learn why Steve Bellshaw, who used to be a deputy…
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Posted inKate Brown Oregon politics Salem Reporter

Gov. Brown and Salem Reporter shine in climate bill saga

After being deeply upset with how Democrats and Republicans behaved in the walkout of GOP members of the state Senate over HB 2020, a cap and trade climate bill, it's great to find some bright spots in this saga -- Governor Kate Brown and Aubrey Wieber, a Salem Reporter journalist. Governor Kate Brown has earned back my admiration after she responded to the first May walkout of Republican senators by agreeing to kill two bills that were opposed by the GOP, being Democratic priorities  (a pro-vaccine bill and a gun control bill). I thought this bad move would encourage Republicans…
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Posted inSalem Reporter Statesman Journal

Sunday’s Statesman Journal had zero local content on opinion page

Salem's one and only daily newspaper, the Statesman Journal, is falling deeper into a well of mediocrity. The newest outrage against journalistic excellence was obvious in yesterday's Sunday paper where, for the first time in the 41 years that I've been reading the Statesman Journal, to my recollection, there was precisely zero local content on the opinion pages.  A post on the Salem Community Vision Facebook page nailed the outrageousness of this: NO LOCAL OPINION IN THE SUNDAY PAPERCharles Sprague is turning in his grave today. When he was the editor of the Oregon Statesman he wrote a daily editorial…
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Posted inSalem Reporter

I’m liking the Salem Reporter, but have ideas for improvements

Today was the official kick-off for the Salem Reporter, our town's fresh online option for getting local and state news. A few stories had been published earlier, but this was the scheduled opening day. The web site design is a clone of another paper (Malheur Enterprise) operated by Les Zaitz, who founded Salem Reporter along with businessman Larry Tokarski.  Salem Reporter looks clean, bright, modern, and easy to read. Given that there won't be lots of stories on the Salem Reporter site, it makes sense to simply list the latest stories on the home page, plus a brief description of…
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Posted inSalem Reporter

I report on a talk with a reporter from Salem Reporter

This afternoon I spent an enjoyable hour chatting with Troy Brynelson, one of the Salem Reporter's fresh journalistic faces in this town. Troy got to the Beanery in downtown Salem before I did, and sent me a helpful email saying he was wearing a green shirt, but because I'd carefully studied the photo above, my keen senior citizen eyes were able to pick him out from the three or so people in the coffeehouse when I arrived.  Early on, I assessed Troy for possible mental illness after he told me that he has a journalism degree from the University of…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce Larry Tokarski Salem Reporter

First meeting of Salem Reporter was with business leaders. Bad optics.

I was pleased to be one of the first to fork out $100 for a year's subscription to the Salem Reporter, a new online news source headed up by Les Zaitz that will start publication in September. Right after I subscribed, I emailed Zaitz and the three reporters he's hired, telling them how disappointed I've been that the Statesman Journal (Salem's daily newspaper, owned by Gannett) hasn't run stories that challenge the Powers That Be in this town. I’ll end by observing that in recent years I’ve been frustrated by the failure of the Statesman Journal to do genuine investigative…
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Posted inSalem Reporter Salem Weekly Statesman Journal

“Salem Reporter” is a new Tokarski-funded online news site

Here's some interesting news about the news industry in Salem. Read all about it in a Poynter story, "Salem, Oregon is getting a new online news site. 'I'm pretending there's no other media there.'" And they already have a website! Leslie Zaitz is the publisher and editor of the Malheur Enterprise in Vale, Oregon. Larry Tokarski is a businessman and real estate developer with strong connections to Salem.  On Sept. 17, the Salem Reporter will go live with Zaitz as CEO and editor and three full-time reporters who will cover “local government, schools, business, nonprofits and state government,” according to a press…
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