Covington is ready for the 2012 legislative session.
In early November the City Council adopted a legislative agenda that tackled a range of issues from transportation to state-shared revenues to commuter and passenger rail to unfunded mandates to economic development funding.
Covington has found a solution for code enforcement: Brian Bykonen.
On the surface, Kentwood’s girls basketball team may look vulnerable.
There are seven sophomores on the roster. A new coach, Lisa Ashley, has taken over this season. And a trio of talented players — Courtney Johnson, Liz Mills and Kylie Huerta — graduated in the spring.
Yet, the Conquerors seem to be doing just fine, having tallied a 6-1 overall record and a 5-1 record in the South Puget Sound League North division as of Dec. 27.
It has been a busy year here at the Covington-Maple Valley-Black Diamond Reporter.
There have been plenty of stories to keep the editorial staff on its toes ranging from uplifting to puzzling to triumphant to distressing.
Here we recap the 10 biggest stories of the year at the Reporter with the list coming in no particular order.
Dace Anderson is taking the music to Redmond.
Anderson, founder and president of Dace’s Rock ‘N’ More, is preparing for the opening of a second location in Redmond.
Locally, we have dealt with two cases in the Kent School District, one which eventually ended in a former Kentlake teacher serving an eight month jail sentence for sexual misconduct with a student while a second case alleging misconduct by Kent-Meridian teacher (who lives in Black Diamond) is just at the start of the criminal process.
In the South Puget Sound League 4A North Division the Kent and Tahoma schools boys basketball teams will likely spend the season chasing favorite Mount Rainier, which as of Tuesday had one loss in league, and was tied atop the division standings with Kent-Meridian.
Covington led the pack in retail growth from 2005 to 2010 according to the 2011 Washington State Retail Survey.
On Christmas morning children in Covington and Maple Valley who may not have expected to find much under the tree will be pleasantly surprised.
That’s because on earlier this week parents were able to shop at the Maple Valley Food Bank’s Christmas store, which was set up in a vacant storefront in Four Corners, for toys, clothes, gift cards and even bicycles.
Players from Kentwood’s girls soccer team presented a check for $3,500 to staff at Covington MultiCare on Dec. 15.
Vern Heinle played Santa a little bit early this year when he delivered toys to the Forgotten Children’s Fund on Dec. 10
Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship’s building is done and it has that new church smell.
You know, the smell of fresh paint, of beauty bark around the landscaping — some 50 church volunteers planted thousands of plants around the building and the parking lot — and for Pastor Roy Conwell it’s almost hard to believe it belongs to his congregation.
Tahoma School District staff want to get a jump on the next budget cycle.
This year, though, it’s going to be a challenge.
Those electric cars like the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt and the SMART Car are going to need to plug in somewhere.
Eventually there will be electric vehicle charging stations throughout Washington state, including Covington and Maple Valley, as the state legislature’s deadline to adopt ordinances for such stations is looming.
Kentlake High School needs a motto, a slogan, a phrase that captures what the school is about, what its values are and can genuinely contribute to an overarching effort to change the culture.
Tahoma rolled on Saturday at home in a double dual against Snohomish and defending 4A state wrestling champion Lake Stevens.
Trees behind Safeway in Covington will be cleared in the coming week to make way for construction of Valley Medical Center’s medical plaza.
Tahoma is stacked.
The Bears wrestling team has 12 competitors who were on the floor of the Tacoma Dome in February for Mat Classic XXIII, the state championship tournament.
Shortly after school started the day before Thanksgiving, third graders at Rock Creek Elementary in Maple Valley had a holiday gift for Vine Maple Place.
Organized by Tina McDonough, whose daughter Trista is a student there, along with teacher Lisa Mocquet, the fundraiser was a huge success generating $850.
I am a technology geek.
True, in May 2009 I wrote in a column in this newspaper that even as a lover of gadgets, there’s too much technology out there and I refused to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. I eventually relented. I’m @hill_kris if you want to follow me.
