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Fish Rubbing | Spencer Court residents get a demo of Japanese art [3]
FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2014
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Sports | Lindbergh Wrestlers take the top spot in two holiday tournaments. [Sports 7]
Persson to lead council in 2014 Prince elected president pro tem By Brian Beckley bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
With the election well behind them, the Renton City Council this past month selected a new council president and council president pro tem for next year. The council unanimously approved Don Persson as next year’s president. As president, Persson will conduct the meetings and set the agendas for both the council meetings and the Committee of the Whole meetings that precede them. This year, Persson was chair of the Public Safety Committee and vice-chair of the Finance Committee. In his 13 years on the council, he has served as president three times prior. Councilman Ed Prince was selected as president pro tem by a vote of 5-2 with Councilmembers Greg Taylor and Marice Palmer voting in the negative. The president pro-tem runs the meeting in the president’s absence. [ more roles page 4 ]
Merri Rieger named superintendent. When Mary Alice Heuschel left her post as the
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Renton School District’s superintendent to become Gov. Jay Inslee’s chief of staff, she left some pretty big shoes to fill. The previous year, Heuschel was named 2011 Washington Superintendent of the Year and had made numerous connections for the school district with her prominence and new spotlight on the district. Among other accomplishments, the district credited Heuschel with increasing high school graduation rates and working to close the ethnicity achievement gap. Assistant Superintendent Vera Risdon was selected as the interim superintendent, with a career that started and would end in Renton. The district conducted a nationwide search to fill the position and narrowed the field to six local [ more top stories page 8 ]
By TRACEY COMPTON tcompton@rentonreporter.com
If the dark days of winter typically get you down and your depression seems to be unrelated to anything going on in your life, you may have seasonal affective disorder. Seasonal affective disorder is an organic type of depression that has to do with a chemical imbalance in the brain, explains Rhonda Griffin, a mental health counselor at Valley Medical Center. “When our brains are triggered by the lack of sunlight and it’s darker, the chemicals that we [ more tips page 4 ]
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As 2013 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 seeming conclusion to the library debate, to the murders of two residents by their grandson, to the sentencing of Jarrod Lane, to happier news like a new Renton Superintendnet and a run at the state tournament by both Renton basketball teams as well as an undefeated season by the Lindbergh Eagles football team, 2013 gave us all a lot to think about. Here are some of the stories that we followed this year:
Tips for getting through seasonal affective disorder