As 2014 comes to an end, the Renton Reporter staff is taking a look back at some of the stories that most affected our readers this year.
From the sale of major local business assets to the opening of a new playground to the final word on the UW strategic alliance and the death of a Renton City Council member, this past year provided us with a lot of news and a lot of memories.
Here are some more of the stories that we followed this year:
Renton High School’s IB program
In January 2014, we found Renton High School hoping for approval of its new International Baccalaureate program, a college prep program for juniors and seniors that expects them to demonstrate college-level work. In April the school was approved and by October it was already deemed a success.
About 250 to 300 juniors at the school took to the program and a total of 52 students are taking all six IB classes in pursuit of the IB diploma. Renton High School was hailed by district administration and regional education experts for its implementation of the program.
Successfully obtaining an IB diploma gives students the opportunity to apply to exchange credits and gain access to such college’s as Paris’ Sorbonne and Harvard. Students can waive up to two years of college classes with an IB diploma anywhere the diploma is accepted, both nationally and internationally.
The federal Race to the Top funding helped ramp up the program with the training of teachers prior to implementation, administration said.
Renton High is unique with its IB program because of the 21 schools in the state with a similar program, none match the schools demographics and size of those students enrolled in IB classes.
PSE’s ‘Energize Eastside’ project
Late in 2013, Puget Sound Energy announced plans to bring new, larger energy transmission lines to the east side of Lake Washington, upgrading a system that has not seen improvements since the 1960s and setting into motion one of the biggest stories of 2014.
Citing an ever-increasing demand for power that the company predicts it will not be able to keep up with by the end of the decade, the energy purveyor plans to increase the transmission capabilities to 230 kilovolt lines, up from the current 115 kV lines.
Several local groups, including the Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy, or CENSE, challenged the need for the lines as well as the choice of routes and the company’s insistence that placing the lines underground would be too expensive.
PSE selected a series of possible routes through the area for the new lines, including two through Renton: The “M Route,” that would keep the lines in the current right-of-way along Monroe Avenue, and the “L Route” that would have moved the lines along Lake Washington.
A Community Advisory Group met multiple times through the year and in December made their final recommendations on routes. Through Renton, the group chose the “M Route” on all options.
Next for PSE is to begin the environmental review and design on the $200 million project. The new lines are expected to be in service by the end of 2018.
CENSE plans to continue its opposition to the project.
Teens hurt, killed in the Highlands
Unfortunately this year, two stories that got a lot of attention involved two teenagers who were involved in traffic accidents in the Renton Highlands. Both were badly injured and one died due to his injuries.
Mariah Boehm, 17, sustained life-threatening injuries when she was hit by a car while walking northbound in the 800-block of Duvall Avenue Northeast in the Renton Highlands in May. A community of Magic the Gathering enthusiasts rallied to support her, raising nearly $30,000 for Boehm’s medical expenses.
The other Highlands accident took the life of 17-year-old Andrew R. Finnell, who was struck by a hit-and-run driver, while riding his skateboard. Darius C. Owens was charged in September with felony hit and run in the incident.
Finnell was remembered for his “amazing character and energy.”
