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Friday, March 16, 2012
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Grants for railroad grade separation projects in jeopardy City hopes to retain $17 million in funding By Steve Hunter shunter@kentreporter.com
The city of Kent needs to decide soon whether it can hold on to $17 million in matching grants to
construct railroad grade separation projects along three streets. The state Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board sent a letter in February to Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke to inform the city that the board will review the projects at its May 23 meeting in Yakima to decide whether or not
to pull back the funds. “The board will need to know that a secure funding plan has been approved and the city is moving forward to implement it,” wrote Karen Schmidt, executive director of the Freight Mobility Board in a letter to Cooke. So far, the city has no funding
plan for the projects that are designed to speed the flow of truck and vehicle traffic because drivers would no longer need to stop for trains. Kent is a hub for truck traffic with its large warehouse district in the valley. The board has approved the following grants to the city to
construct overpasses or underpasses to separate vehicle traffic from railroads: • $10 million for South 212th Street BNSF/UP grade separations • $4 million for Willis Street BNSF/UP grade separations [ more FUNDING page 4 ]
Jay Inslee, left, Democratic candidate for governor, chats with World CNG employee Larry Been, during a stop Tuesday at the Kent business. STEVE HUNTER, Kent Reporter
Inslee fires criticisms at McKenna in Kent By Steve Hunter shunter@kentreporter.com
Kent-Meridian High School sophomores study on their laptops during class. All ninth-grade students were given their own computers this year. sarah kehoe, Kent Reporter
Teachers embracing new technology By TJ Martinell and Sarah Kehoe tmartinell@maplevalleyreporter.com skehoe@kentreporter.com
It wasn’t too long ago when classroom instruction was almost devoid of any technology. Educators in both the Kent and Tahoma school districts are slowly, but surely, adapting to the use of technology for lesson planning, teaching as well as tools for their students. Kimberly Allison, an instructional technology coach, has worked in the Tahoma School District for 19 years, first teaching at Tahoma High. Although there was a computer lab, she said, none of the teachers had their
Series: Part 1 This is the first in a series of stories examining the use of new technology in the public classroom.
own personal computers. The Internet had been invented by 1993, but, it was still in its infancy. Even then the use of technology was based on traditional learning. When Allison took her class took the computer lab, it was merely to type up reports, rather than write in pencil or pen. If a student needed to do research on a subject, he had to go to the
library, search through the catalog and then locate the actual book. “When I taught in high school, it was about using physical resources in a physical building,” Allison said. “It was an automative process, but it didn’t change anything. Technology was just the tool.” Allison said she remembers going to an information session for teachers in the mid-1990s, where the use of the Internet was discussed. Ironically, at the time, it didn’t appear to her as though it would be anything more than another tool. Now, it is nearly impossible [ more TECHNOLOGY page 9 ]
Jay Inslee, Democratic candidate for governor, didn’t hesitate to take a shot at Republican candidate Rob McKenna’s stance against legalizing same-sex marriage during a media tour Tuesday at a Kent small business. Inslee supports gay marriage. McKenna, the state attorney general, opposes it. So when a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that the phrase “redefine marriage,” had to be removed from a proposed referendum seeking to overturn the new law legalizing gay marriage, Inslee jumped at the chance to comment about the decision in front of a television camera and a few reporters. “It’s gratifying that the court is going to allow voters to make the commonsense fair decision about this important matter,” Inslee said. “It’s very disappointing it took
a court to force our attorney general to follow the law and stop him frankly from playing politics with this important matter.” McKenna, as attorney general, and his staff are in charge of writing ballot language for referendums and initiatives. Opponents of Referendum 74 challenged the proposed ballot measure language chosen by McKenna because “redefine marriage to allow same sex couples to marry” is biased in favor of support for the referendum that would overturn the law to allow gay marriage. Judge Thomas McPhee ordered the phrase “redefine marriage” to be removed. Backers of the referendum can now seek the 120,577 valid signatures needed by June 6 to send the measure to voters in November, when they also will elect a new governor. [ more INSLEE page 17 ]