The first story on my list is the five-year anniversary of Kimberly Hakes, a homeless woman who was killed on the east side of the Willamette River, It remains the oldest unsolved murder in Corvallis and it remains poignant to me because the homeless community has so little power when it comes to demanding answers or effecting change.
My second item is on the Paycheck Protection Program, federal funding that helped small business stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of companies, large and small, in the U.S. received assistance, with our story highlighting some of those in Linn County and Benton County. Despite some of the criticism the program received it seems to have largely done the job it was designed to do.
The third story is about the 20th anniversary of a bond election in Corvallis that added $8 million worth of park properties. The question we sought to answer is what has happened to the five properties that were in the bond and what are the city's plans for the ones that have not been developed.
The fourth item is on the early days of the pandemic. We canvassed a wide range of individuals, officials and regular joes to find out how they were coping with the virus. The answers we got were inspiring.
My fifth story is on solar installer and climate activist Peter Greenberg of Albany. Greenberg is a master of figuring out how to provide the most juice for the lowest price, and his solar footprints are all over the mid-valley.
(5) updates to this series since Updated
Five years later folks in the homeless community of Corvallis still are troubled that Virginia Hakes' murder has not been solved.
By and large the federal funds in the Paycheck Protection Program was spent on deserving recipients.
As tough as the virus has been on the mid-valley we found plenty of resilience and fortitude out there.
Corvallis voters passed a bond measure in 20000 that added nearly 500 acres of parks properties. Our story looks at what happened to the five …
Amid stark warnings about climate change Peter Greenberg of Albany is carving a niche as a solar installer and difference-maker.
