Polk County News

Polk County firefighters are looking for food, toy and cash donations they can distribute to local families this holiday season.

INDEPENDENCE - The Greater Independence Business Incubator will host an open house 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at 414 S. Main St.

A West Salem man faces tax evasion and marijuana charges by the Oregon Department of Justice, officials said.

INDEPENDENCE/MONMOUTH - Polk County Fire District No. 1 will have a 'Safe Kids Willamette Valley' 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at 1800 Monmouth St.

If the swine-flu clinic held at West Salem High School on Nov. 5 is any indication of how government and school officials hope to prevent or ameliorate public-health threats, than we've got more to worry about than the flu's cough and spittle.

Factoring in the underemployed puts jobless rate at 20.1% By Michael Rose * Statesman Journal * November 11, 2009 Oregon's job market may look bad enough, with an unemployment rate sitting at 11.5 percent.

Each year about this time, the property tax man cometh, and he did not miss us this year.

Congressman Kurt Schrader is hosting a veterans forum at Chemeketa Community College on Saturday.

Agricultural fires are burning near Falls City tonight, officials said. Three different fires can reportedly be seen from parts of Salem.

Polk County's Multi Disciplinary Team is planning a number of free parent workshops that address child abuse.

Today is Halloween, sometimes known as "the devil's day," tomorrow is All Saints' Day, and Monday is All Souls' Day.

RICKREALL - Polk County's Holiday Fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the fairgrounds, 820 S. Pacific Highway.

It's a relatively quiet election season in Polk and Marion counties: Residents in four cities have issues to decide Tuesday.

Edward L. "Ned" Clark Jr., a former president of the Oregon State Bar and a pioneer in land-use planning for Marion and Polk counties, has died.

Local emergency dispatchers reported Marion and Polk county roadways free of crashes and other traffic-blocking problems.

As the supply for the H1N1, or swine flu, vaccine trickles in slower than expected, officials in Marion and Polk counties are scrambling to keep up with demand.

Contributors and sponsors are hoping that the public will go loopy for the Willamette Valley Birding Trail Guide.

The jobless rate in the Salem area has nudged higher, rising from 11.5 percent in August to 11.6 percent in September.

MONMOUTH - The Ella Curran Food Bank and Marion-Polk Food Share will have a meeting Monday to discuss hunger in the Monmouth and Independence area.

POLK COUNTY - Scharf Farms, McK Ranch, Rickreall Dairy, Bernie Faber Dairy in West Salem and David and Bette McKibben were among the Polk County farms recently visited by dozens of county agents from across the United States.