Last Week in Pleasanton: Sept. 12 to Sept. 18

Are you up-to-date on your Pleasanton news? Here's what happened last week and what's to come.

This week, Patch published a story about the new express lane set to open Sept. 20 on the I-680. Another express lane on the I-580 from Pleasanton to east of Livermore will be opening soon. Learn more about how these lanes work here.

The California Department of Education released the Academic Performance Index and the Adequate Yearly Progress reports for schools. The reports indicate that Pleasanton scores remain high, but they also missed targets for student subgroups.  

The San Ramon teen charged with attempted murder for a shooting in the Rosewood Pavillion was back in court last week for a separate vandalism case. Antonio Faraz Rad has yet to make a plea to both charges of vandalism and attempted murder. 

Patch added more questionnaires to its Virtual Ballot, which includes candidate Q&As, important election dates and links to our Nov. 2 election coverage. We also debuted our new political column by Phil Hayworth, which talks about the various races going on at the state level. 

Patch youth contributor, Tara Kaur, writes about students' summer travels. Six Amador Valley High School students participated in foreign exchange programs that took them to various countries from Paraguay to Japan. 

Cameron Sullivan's latest column talks about the future of downtown Pleasanton and what kinds of businesses residents would like to see. 

In sports news, the Foothill boys water polo team lost to to San Ramon Valley.

The Dons Football Team beat Fremont's Washington High School Huskies 31 to 15.

Meanwhile, the Falcons won over James Logan after facing a 20-point deficit. .  

Patch's coverage of the Firehouse Arts Center Grand Opening continues with this photo gallery. We also wrote about the preparations for the Saturday event. 

Coming up next week:

More on Pleasanton's API and AYP scores. 

More Nov. 2 election profiles for our virtual ballot.