Yesterday, the first half of the top 10 stories of 2018 were posted to our website. Today, we are sharing the top five most read stories of 2018.
We took a look at articles that readers were most interested in, and through analytics we were able to narrow down the most read stories of the year.
Here are the most read stories of 2018.
5. Construction projects update in Maple Valley
By Kayse Angel
The city of Maple Valley has a number of projects that they have been planning that are now underway or will be soon.
The Summit Park project broke ground on Aug. 2.
Summit Park is expected to be completed in May 2019.
Lake Wilderness Park also saw some updates in 2018.
The beach house was replaced with a new and improved design. A ribbon cutting for the grand opening of the new beach house was held in summer 2018.
Another project the city worked on was the Four Corners mixed use project. This project is expected to provide 200 residential units in 17 multifamily buildings, a club house and three commercial buildings.
4. Crews work to extinguish brush fire near Covington
By Sarah Brenden
In August 2018 Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority fire fighters worked to extinguish a brush fire along state Route 18 near Covington.
Initial reports stated the fire was 10-12 acres in size.
More than 24 hours since the fire began, crews reported it was 60 percent contained.
According to a Facebook post from the fire authority, the cause of the brush fire was burning material from a “bee smoker” had landed in dry grass.
3. Maple Valley Teen Makes it on The Voice Kids in Germany
By Kayse Angel
Benicio “Beni” Bryant, a student at Summit Trail Middle School, was recruited by “The Voice Kids” in Germany to participate in the singing competition last year.
He made it far in the competition and became very popular in Germany.
Beni was competing for a $25,000 record deal. He and his family flew to Germany three times so he could compete.
In the end, Beni ended up getting second place, losing to German native, Anisa.
On the brightside, Beni’s The Voice coach, Max Giesinger, a singer-songwriter from Waldbronn, Germany, invited him to come back to Germany in August to record songs with him.
2. Man goes into cardiac arrest at local Fred Meyer
By Kayse Angel
Fred Meyer employees and community members jumped into action at the Maple Valley Fred Meyer when a man went into cardiac arrest.
The assistant store manager, David Seitz, said he called 911 while employees blocked off the area by pushing other customers back away from the scene.
Seitz said a customer and the Fred Meyer pharmacy tech did chest compressions on the man.
According to Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety Chief Aaron Tyerman, the fast action of the employees and customers are what saved that man’s life.
In May, Tyerman presented a framed certificate to thank those Fred Meyer employees for their assistance.
1. Robert Morrison enters guilty plea to all charges
By Sarah Brenden
The former martial arts studio owner, Robert Morrison, pleaded guilty Aug. 16 to five separate counts.
He pleaded guilty to three felony counts of rape of a child, one felony county of communication with a minor for immoral purposes and a gross misdemeanor count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes.
His plea came less than a month before his trial was scheduled to begin.
Then Oct. 25 during Morrison’s sentencing hearing, he was sentenced to 60 months for each of the four felony counts to run concurrently. If he is released prior to the five years in prison, he will serve up to 36 months probation.
He was sentenced to a suspended 364 days for 24 months for the gross misdemeanor.
