renton .com
Reporter NEWSLINE: 425-255-3484
founded 1995
Money | Financial help available for Renton arts groups [2]
Do it again | Seahawks fans will send off the Saying goodbye | The community Hawks Friday for their playoff game against the had a chance to meet with departing Mary Alice Heuschel. [3] FRIDAY, JAN. 11, 2013 Atlanta Falcons [12]
SPEEA/Boeing talks resume; strike a possibility | page 9
A banner year for the 737 Renton-built airplane has most yearly orders for any jet; the MAX has found its spot on the production floor.
By DEAN A. RADFORD dradford@rentonreporter.com
By DEAN A. RADFORD dradford@rentonreporter.com
The Renton-built 737 had a record-breaking year in 2012, in a year of records for The Boeing Co. The 737 program broke the record for orders for any Boeing model in a single year, accumulating 1,124 net “Our employees rose orders, according to to the challenge of Boeing. The 737 MAX executing several featuring a variant of production rate the engine of the bestincreases in 2012 – a selling 737 accounted truly remarkable for 914 of those orders, performance.” Ray bringing total orders Conner, CEO, Boeing to date to 1,064. Last Commercial Airplanes week Boeing announced a $6 billion order from Aviation Capital Group for 60 737 MAX airplanes. The order consists of 50 737 MAX 8s, considered the heart of the market, and 10 737 MAX 9s. In addition, the Next-Generation 737 set a new single-year record with 415 deliveries to customers worldwide. The 737 program also marked its 10,000th order in 2012.
Hospital district sends alliance challenge to Supreme Court
Boeing 737s roll off the production line at the company’s production plant in Renton, where workers are setting a record-breaking pace in building planes. Boeing Just how the Renton plant will build all those 737s became clearer in 2012, too, with the announcement of what’s popularly known as a third production line. Boeing officially calls the third line a “transition line.” The “factory plan” calls for building the initial 737 MAX airplanes on the transition line, followed by integrating the MAX production into the two existing 737 production lines. Boeing also builds the P-8 Poseidon antisubmarine and reconnaissance aircraft in Renton that’s based on the 737.
The first flight of the 737 MAX is expected in 2016, according to Boeing spokeswoman Lauren Penning. Southwest Airlines, the launch customer, will get the first commercial MAX in 2017. Sometime in the first half of 2014, Boeing workers in Renton will produce 42 737s a month. That’s when the company will bring the MAX online. The “firm concept” of the new 737 MAX [ more 737 page 8 ]
Public Hospital District No. 1 will appeal to the Washington Supreme Court a decision by a King County Superior Court judge dismissing its challenge of the strategic alliance with UW Medicine. The vote at Monday’s hospital district commission was 3-2, with Dr. Paul Joos, Anthony Hemstad and Dr. Aaron Heide voting for an appeal, and Sue Bowman and Carolyn Parnell against it. Joos said after the meeting the appeal would go to the Supreme Court in the next few weeks. He indicated that Phil Talmadge, a former state Supreme Court justice who argued the case before county Judge Michael Hayden, would file and then argue the appeal, along with the hospital district’s attorney, Bruce Disend. In 2011, the hospital commission voted 3-2 to approve the strategic alliance with UW Medicine, which is designed to improve and expand medical care in South King County. However, that majority changed with the election of Joos [ more ALLIANCE page 10 ]
City Council to weigh in on marijuana ordinance Renton City Council will begin to look at how marijuana laws will be implemented in the city in the coming weeks. On Monday the council was briefed by Police Chief Kevin Milosevich on how the Association of Washington Cities is treating the issue.
“There’s a lot of grey areas,” said Milosevich in a phone interview Monday morning. Currently in Renton, the city has not yet adopted an ordinance that treats marijuana as an infraction for using it in public. However, people can be cited into district court until an ordinance is adopted, he said. “The $64,000 question,” he said is when
Your Residential Specialists
will the federal government decide how to handle Washington state’s decriminalization of marijuana? Although possessing marijuana became legal in the state on Dec. 6, it still remains a crime under federal law. It is still illegal to obtain recreational marijuana in Washington until the Liquor Control Board decides how to establish the procedures and criteria
necessary to implement the initiative. The board has until Dec. 1 to make those decisions. People can possess it, but they can’t legally buy it, Milosevich said. This does not have anything to do with current laws on medical marijuana, he said. [ more marijuana page 10 ]
206-949-1696 info@marciemaxwell.com 721674
By TRACEY COMPTON tcompton@rentonreporter.com