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MEMORIAL DAY | City to unveil new name plaques at annual Memorial Day ceremony, 1 p.m. Monday [15]
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FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2014
Transit cuts in Renton not as bad as thought
Crowded field in primary for open 37th Senate seat BY BRIAN BECKLEY bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
The candidate filing period for this summer’s primary election has officially closed and the race for retiring state Senator Adam Kline’s seat is the 37th district is jam packed with hopefuls. Five Democrats and a Republican have filed to run for the open seat that includes Seattle, Skyway and Renton’s downtown neighborhoods. Kline, 69, announced his intention to not run for re-election in January, after serving since he was appointed to the Senate in 1997. He won reelection twice. “I’ll miss the action here, the engagement on issues important to the extraordinary people of Southeast Seattle,” he said in a press release at the time. Running for his seat are Claude Burfect, John Stafford, Pramila Jayapal, Sheley Secrest and Louis Watanabe, all from Seattle and all preferring the Democratic Party, and Rowland Martin from Renton, who
BY BRIAN BECKLEY bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
Play on! Daliah Fortson, 7, climbs on the signature caterpillar while Mallory Johnson, 5, left, enjoys a wobbly, spinning seat at the Meadow Crest Playground grand opening May 17. The playground, located near Meadow Crest Learning Center in the Highlands, is designed for children of all ages and abilities. BRIAN BECKLEY, Renton Reporter
MORE PHOTOS ONLINE… rentonreporter.com
[ more ELECTION page 9 ]
A new analysis of planned Metro service cuts following the failure of the Prop. 1 funding measure shows Renton set to lose some service but not as much as originally thought. With a county-wide change from 600,000 service hours originally planned to be cut dropping to a new total of 550,000 hours cut, Renton is set to get two of the planned deleted routes back. The cut reduces transit service by a total of 16 percent. Though originally slated for deletion, Route 105 and Route 908DART now remain unchanged in the latest service proposal. However, several routes that serve Renton are still scheduled for deletion, including the 110, 161, 167, 280, and 909DART. According to the city’s analysis, the 110, which runs from the Longacres Sounder Station through the Renton [ more TRANSIT page 14 ]
Vets getting ‘one last mission’ to WWII memorial in Washington, D.C. tcompton@rentonreporter.com
Merrill Gardens is hoping to send some its World War II veterans on “one last mission” this summer to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. The retirement community is hosting a fundraiser this summer for a unique Puget Sound nonprofit and national organization is taking veterans on free flights back to Washington, D.C., to tour the war memorials. It’s called Puget Sound Honor Flight and it’s one of
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about 127 regional hubs in 41 states that take veterans on “one last mission,” as their website puts it. The national organization has taken more than 100,000 veterans back to the capital. Right now, the group is planning its September and October flights. Merrill Gardens will hold a fundraising effort July 12 in order to sponsor their 20 veterans in a flight from Seattle back to D.C. The event is from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at their Renton Centre, 104 Burnett Ave., Renton. Admission is $20 and the goal is to raise at [ more HONOR page 15 ]
Three of the 20 residents from Merrill Gardens in Renton planning to visit the World War II monument in Washington, D.C., are, from left, Maury Marler, Louise George and Bob Brown. TRACEY COMPTON, Renton Reporter
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BY TRACEY COMPTON