Author Archives: Natalie Pate

The Salem-Keizer Education Foundation is months behind in payments to various vendors. The Statesman Journal has confirmed at least five vendors that worked with the foundation this year on various events had not been paid-in-full as of Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, with outstanding amounts ranging from about $300 to nearly $16,000. Read the full storyContinueContinue reading “SKEF owes multiple vendors payments”

Bill Post has represented Oregon House District 25 — which includes Keizer, St. Paul, Newberg and parts of rural Marion and Yamhill counties — for two terms. But Democratic challenger McCall believes he can do a better job than the Republican incumbent at serving the area’s constituents. Read about the candidates here.

Oregon Ballot Measure 106 would prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for certain abortions. While supporters say this measure only limits what money could be used for abortions, opponents fear it is a backdoor ban on the procedure and disproportionately affects low-income Oregonians. Read the full story here.

Salem women and men have joined millions online in the international #MeToo conversation about sexual assault and harassment. Salem participants want survivors to feel a sense of healing and empowerment, for assailants to be held accountable and for policies to create real change. Read the full story here. (This story has a double byline withContinueContinue reading “#MeToo: Salem calls for healing, empowerment and policy changes”

Few people have access to the immigrant children detained at the southern U.S. border. Wendi Warren Binford, a Willamette University law professor from Salem, is one of them — part of a team of advocates allowed into the detention centers under the Flores Settlement, which was adopted by the federal government in the late 1990s.ContinueContinue reading “Willamette law professor one of few to interview detained children at U.S. border”

The youth of America are sending a very loud message — grownups are not doing their job. From Parkland, Florida, to Washington, D.C., to Salem, Oregon, teenagers are speaking against gun violence in a way only they can. Read the full analysis here.

Oregon’s 2016-17 annual report card, released by the state’s Department of Education, shows the state is excelling at certain indicators and falling behind in others. There was a more diverse workforce of teachers and administrators, but educators were being paid less, on average, than previous years. Fewer suspensions and expulsions were issued, but there isContinueContinue reading “Oregon schools: Diversity and absenteeism up, salaries and discipline down”

Native American students in Oregon are graduating at lower rates, performing worse on state assessments, attending fewer days and receiving more suspensions and expulsions than their peers, according to a report released by the Oregon Department of Education. Experts believe a few key issues are causing these negative outcomes. Read the full story here.

Oregon NAACP leaders say the Oregon Department of Education unfairly allocated millions of taxpayer dollars meant to help African-American students statewide succeed. Read the full story here.

The pervasiveness of mental health issues and child suicide rates leads Oregon to rank as the worst state in the country for mental illness. And the state’s lack of child psychiatrists and school counselors leaves families waiting for months to get help. This significantly reduces students’ odds of completing their education, ending up unemployed andContinueContinue reading “Student mental health crisis spurs Oregon to try in-school programs”