Residents can donate to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts
November 6, 2012
Opportunities abound for local residents to help people impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
Hurricane Sandy came ashore in New Jersey late Oct. 29. The storm caused at least 95 deaths throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region. The storm caused at least $7 billion in damage across the Eastern Seaboard.
Officials offer advice to avoid storm-related scams
November 6, 2012
Officials at the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and the National Center for Disaster Fraud urged potential donors to avoid fraud related to disaster relief scams.
Police arrest suspect in Skyline High School shooting threat
October 2, 2012
UPDATED — 11:20 a.m. Oct. 2, 2012
Police have arrested a suspect in the Sept. 20 online shooting threat against Skyline High School students, a King County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday morning.
Sgt. Cindi West, spokeswoman for the agency, said police arrested a suspect in the case, but could not release additional details, pending a 12:30 p.m. news conference at Sammamish City Hall.
The suspect is a former Skyline student, Principal Lisa Hechtman announced in a message to parents late Tuesday morning.
In the post about Skyline, a still-unidentified online bulletin board user threatened to unleash a Columbine-style attack and shoot students on campus.
Issaquah School District administrators characterized the decision to close the Sammamish school as a precaution, and the school reopened Sept. 21, albeit at a later time and as extra police officers, parent volunteers and counselors greeted students.
Skyline High School closes for day due to online shooting threat
September 25, 2012
King County Sheriff Steve Strachan speaks during a news conference Sept. 20 at Sammamish City Hall, across the street from the Skyline High School campus. By Greg Farrar
Skyline High School closed Sept. 20, after a still-unidentified online bulletin board user threatened to unleash a Columbine-style attack and shoot students on campus.
Online scare, response unfurl on social media
September 25, 2012
The threat against Skyline High School unfolded almost entirely in the social media realm — as students took to Twitter and Facebook to dissect the threat, school district officials used the tools to calm parents’ fears and investigators probed online for clues.
In the late-night hours of Sept. 19, as police and school administrators determined how to address a purported mass shooting on the Skyline campus the next day, students traded information and innuendo on social networking services.
Investigation yields no suspect in Skyline shooting threat
September 21, 2012
NEW — 3:30 p.m. Sept. 21, 2012
Police have not identified a suspect in the shooting threat against Skyline High School, despite several interviews and a forensic investigation by the King County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.
Investigators spent the last 48 hours attempting to pinpoint the user behind the threat posted Wednesday on the online bulletin board 4chan. Investigators said Friday they cannot verify whether the threat came from a Skyline student or anybody in the area.
In addition, investigators from the sheriff’s office and FBI reached a dead end after they traced the post to a proxy server in Sweden — a common technique among computer users seeking to mask their identities.
Officials said Skyline and other schools did not receive additional threats after the 4chan post. Officials closed Skyline on Thursday and reopened Friday with a beefed-up police presence on campus.
Spurred by Skyline threat, absences jump 70 percent at Issaquah schools
September 20, 2012
NEW — 6:15 p.m. Sept. 20, 2012
Student attendance in the Issaquah School District tumbled Thursday, and absences spiked by 70 percent, as police investigated a shooting threat against Skyline High School.
District administrators decided late Wednesday to close Skyline on Thursday and keep other campuses open. Staffers and students at other schools felt the ripples early.
Districtwide, absences increased at 18 of 25 schools Thursday, although not every instance is attributable to the Skyline threat.
Officials counted 1,158 students absent Thursday, up from 680 a week earlier, Sept. 13, according to a comparison of attendance data. The district serves about 17,000 students from Preston to Newcastle, and from Sammamish to Renton.
Investigation into Skyline threat continues as attendance drops elsewhere
September 20, 2012
UPDATED — 5 p.m. Sept. 20, 2012
Police continue to investigate a shooting threat against students at Skyline High School, as attendance at other Issaquah School District campuses — particularly Sammamish Plateau schools near Skyline — declined Thursday.
District administrators announced a decision late Wednesday to close Skyline after a threat made online targeted the school for a mass shooting. The district kept all other schools open.
Skyline also canceled all extracurricular activities and school athletics events scheduled for Thursday.
Sammamish Police Administrative Sgt. Jessica Sullivan said police continue to follow several leads on the identity of the user behind the threat posted Wednesday on the online bulletin board 4chan. Investigators have not yet been able to determine if the user is a Skyline student.
Report: Crime declines in Issaquah
June 12, 2012
An Issaquah Police motorcycle officer writes a traffic ticket to a motorist during the afternoon commute May 31 on Front Street South. By Greg Farrar
Crime declined in Issaquah last year, although as the rates of violent crimes and property crimes tumbled, robberies and burglaries increased from the prior year.
The information for Issaquah — from a report on crime statewide — showed a 12.2 percent drop in the overall crime rate for the city last year. The violent crime rate dipped 26.8 percent as the number of reported forcible rapes and aggravated assaults dropped. The property crime declined during 2011 by 11.6 percent, as police responded to fewer arsons, larcenies and motor vehicle thefts.
Still, despite the overall decline, the city experienced a 40 percent increase in robberies, a violent crime, and a 19.8 percent increase in burglary, a property crime. The number of robberies reported to police inched upward between 2010 and last year. Police also responded to more burglaries in 2010 than 2011.
Crime in Issaquah by the numbers
June 12, 2012
Offenses
Local law enforcement agencies classify offenses as Group A or Group B in reporting incidents to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System.
