Abbey McDonald

Reporter at Salem Reporter

Reporter @SalemReporter | prev @DailyAstorian @MalheurNews @UO_Catalyst @nrtoday | she/her | 🏳️‍🌈

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Articles

Thursday evening fire burns Southeast Salem home, displacing 3 residents and pets

5 days ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

Three people and six pets were displaced after a fire destroyed a southeast Salem home Thursday evening. Firefighters arrived at 6:46 p.m. on Thursday to find about half of the home engulfed in flames, according to a post from the Salem Fire Department. An attached video shows several firefighters blasting water from a hose into the roaring flames.
City plans to pull funding from safe parking, warming shelters

1 week ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

Every night, hundreds of people in the Salem area sleep in their cars. There’s always a waitlist for Church at the Park’s Safe Parking Program, which offers a place for car campers to shower, get food and meet with a case manager to sign up for health care and connect with housing. They then have a designated place at a local church to park and sleep through the night without fearing they’ll be asked to move by a business owner or police officer.
New apartments for refugees, low-income families open in NE Salem

1 week ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

Refugee families from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan will be among the first to move into Blossom Gardens, a new affordable apartment complex that opened in northeast Salem this week. The 90-unit complex is the first to be managed by Salem for Refugees, a nonprofit agency which has helped hundreds of refugees settle in the community since 2016. The agency hosted a grand opening event on Monday, May 5, a few days before the first families were set to move in.
Record number of homeless people counted in Marion, Polk Counties

1 week ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

Higher rents and fewer housing options are forcing more people into homelessness in Salem, nearly half of them for the first time in their lives. That’s according to this year’s Point-in-Time count, an annual effort to measure the number and experiences of people who are homeless in Marion and Polk Counties by surveying them out in the community during a week in January. The count also shows success with Salem’s effort to shelter people.
What’s showing at Salem galleries, museums in May

1 week ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

This month, Salem’s galleries and museums will showcase stunning florals, share a wide range of perspectives and celebrate local photography. Between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday evening, May 2, the Salem Art Walk will bring artists and musicians to local businesses downtown.
Timeline: How Salem’s city government got to its current budget crisis

1 week ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

This month, voters in Salem will decide whether to support or reject the city’s proposed new property tax as the city faces deep cuts to the Salem Public Library, in parks, at Center 50+ and across city services. The levy is the latest attempt by the city to balance its budget, after years of cuts, studies and other efforts to raise revenue.
Salem Housing Authority pulls out of homeless outreach effort due to limited budget

1 week ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

Outside of Salem, it’s uncommon for a worker from a housing authority to greet an unsheltered person on a sidewalk or in an encampment. But for eight years, the Salem Housing Authority served a unique role in the community, going beyond their expected role of helping people pay rent and preventing evictions. The agency’s staffers were working in camps and on the streets to help pull people out of homelessness and into apartments.
Sentenced to the Sidewalk: 4 takeaways from our series

2 weeks ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

Last week, Salem Reporter documented the life of Melinda Lou Kayser, an unsheltered woman who died of hypothermia on a sidewalk last November. The news organization’s investigation found that her death came just 11 weeks after Marion County investigators determined she could take care of herself. But for months Kayser’s disabilities and mental health issues left her struggling to feed herself, care for her injuries and attend to hygiene.
Salem Hospital shares behind-the-scenes look at emergency care

3 weeks ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

Last January, Ariel Buik found herself a patient at the same hospital she worked in. Buik was sandwiched between two friends on a sled that raced down an icy hill on Kuebler Boulevard. She saw the sign coming, but couldn’t do anything to stop the collision. They slammed into the pole at over 50 miles an hour, hard enough to rip it out of the ground. Buik, an emergency room technician at Salem Health, knew as she lay on the ground that something was deeply wrong in her body.
Longswords to clash at Salem tournament

3 weeks ago | salemreporter.com | Abbey McDonald

A lone fighter steps into the ring, turning to face nine opponents. They raise a steel longsword, preparing to battle each in quick succession. To win each duel, the fighter will either have to strike true with their sword, wrestle the opponent to the ground or force them out of the ring. It’s not a scene from a medieval movie. It’s “the gauntlet,” part of Salem’s first longsword tournament, which will be held this Saturday, April 26.