City Council shifts top leadership positions
January 29, 2013
The leadership atop the City Council shifted in early January, as the group chose a longtime councilman to lead the council again.
In unanimous decisions Jan. 7, council members chose Fred Butler for the top spot on the board, council president, and Paul Winterstein to serve in the No. 2 position, deputy council president.
The council did not nominate other contenders for either position.
Issaquah voters elected Butler to the council in 1999. Since 2009, he has served as deputy council president after earlier serving as council president.
City seeks applicants for advisory boards, commissions
January 29, 2013
City leaders need civic-minded citizens to offer advice on important issues as municipal board and commission members.
The city needs applicants for openings on 12 boards and commissions. The groups advise the City Council on issues related to the arts, cable TV, development, parks and, in more specialized realms, city cemetery operations and sister-city relationships.
Meanwhile, officials need regular and alternate members for the 12 existing commissions. The applicants for board and commission posts do not need to reside in Issaquah.
Firefighters rescue cat from Klahanie blaze
January 29, 2013
Firefighters extinguished a blaze at a Klahanie home late Jan. 23 and rescued a cat from the fire.
Eastside Fire & Rescue responded at 9:49 p.m. to a reported explosion and fire inside a garage in the 24200 block of Southeast 43rd Place, a Sammamish Plateau neighborhood about three miles northeast of downtown Issaquah.
Crews could see flames and smoke pouring from the garage upon arriving at the scene moments later. Firefighters protected nearby fire-prone areas and doused the blaze.
City Council reviews applicants for open seat
January 29, 2013
The next City Council member comes from a roster rooted in civic participation — seven residents involved in city boards and commissioners, homeowners associations and community organizations.
The council expected to reach a decision Jan. 29 on a successor to former Councilman Mark Mullet.
The council interviewed applicants Michael Beard, Tim Flood, Joe Forkner, Mary Lou Pauly, Bill Ramos, Mark Rigos and Chantal Stevens in 10-minute segments Jan. 22.
Board adjusts Liberty High School graduation requirements
January 29, 2013
Students who start at Liberty High School next year will need to earn more credits to graduate.
The Issaquah School Board voted unanimously Jan. 23 to increase graduation requirements at the school from 28 credits to 29.5 credits, beginning with the class of 2017.
The plan is designed to better align Liberty with the other schools and take advantage of Liberty’s eight-period schedule, Issaquah School District Associate Superintendent Ron Thiele said.
Thiele, along with administrative staff members Emilie Hard and Michelle Trifunovic and Liberty Principal Josh Almy, studied the idea of making Liberty students earn more credits.
Club serves Liberty High School’s lunchtime favorites
January 29, 2013
Veronica Austin
Liberty High School
Most Liberty High School students recognize the DECA store as a favorite purveyor of fine smoothies, snacks and Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, but few really know what goes on behind the scenes.
To get a better understanding of this Liberty staple, I asked senior Elizabeth Rutherford, a DECA store manager, to take me through a typical lunch:
Even before the bell rings for lunch, the DECA store is already preparing for the onslaught of hungry Patriots.
“If our teachers let us leave early, we try and get a couple of panini on the grill and open up a cash register early,” Rutherford said.
“We are usually busy for the first half of lunch,” she said, adding that each worker in the store has a job to do. There are “cashiers, panini makers, pizza twist people, smoothie makers, and runners” with managers like Rutherford supervising.
Maple Hills Elementary School students visit Capitol
January 29, 2013
The fourth-grade students of Maple Hills Elementary School got an inside look at how laws are made Jan. 17 when they visited the state Capitol in Olympia.
While there to learn about state government, the children met up with state Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, and asked him questions about his new job.
Central Issaquah Plan team earns honor from chamber
January 29, 2013
Issaquah Chamber of Commerce leaders honored residents, planners and City Council members Jan. 24 for crafting and adopting a long-term redevelopment plan.
The council adopted the Central Issaquah Plan in December to transform the business district from strip mall suburbia into a dense urban core punctuated by buildings up to 125 feet tall.
The chamber praised the people involved in the Central Issaquah Plan effort at the annual Innovation in Issaquah Luncheon.
Students bypass lackluster lunch at Issaquah High School
January 29, 2013
Jacob Brunette
Issaquah High School
Every day, hundreds of students buy lunch from the Issaquah High School cafeteria. With three lines and a wide variety of available food, students are free to pick and choose what they want to eat on any given day.
Recently, however, there has been concern about the healthiness of school lunch, and IHS does not do a stellar job at providing students with healthy options.
To begin, only one of the three lunch lines provides the typical school lunch, made by the kitchen staff and changed daily, while all three have pizza every day.
Eastside Catholic High School needs more vegetarian fare
January 29, 2013
Shreya Tewari
Eastside Catholic High School
Eastside Catholic High School’s food is provided by a lunch program called No Junk that works with several different private schools across the area.
The program advocates offering balanced food options while keeping special considerations in mind as well, i.e. gluten allergies, etc.
No Junk offers breakfast at Eastside every day before school for those who should choose to arrive early and purchase it. The regular options include breakfast burritos, cinnamon rolls, croissants, hash browns, bagels, juice, cereal, fruit cups and yogurt, while occasionally including a special hot option such as pancakes or French toast.
