[3] In 2005, Renner published a Cleveland Scene cover story revisiting the 1989 abduction and death of 10-year-old Amy Mihaljevic from Bay Village, Ohio.

In April 2009, a story written by James Renner about then-gubernatorial candidate Kevin Coughlin's use of campaign funds to purchase private hotel rooms, which appeared in Cleveland Scene, was spiked by the CEO of Times Shamrock who claimed it "did not meet management’s basic standards of journalism.

[11] In January 2011, Renner announced his plans to delve into the disappearance of Maura Murray, a nursing student who went missing after a car accident in Haverhill, New Hampshire.

[15] In August 2019, Renner announced the launch of his nonprofit, The Porchlight Project, which provide funding for forensic genealogy testing for cold cases in Ohio.

The Porchlight Project paid for the testing of DNA samples taken from under Blatnik's fingernails and the forensic genealogy research provided by Colleen M. Fitzpatrick and her team at Identifinders International.

[17] Renner's first novel, The Man From Primrose Lane, was published by Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, in March 2012.

[21] Feature director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, The 9th Life of Louis Drax) will direct and produce the series.

[23] The sci-fi thriller, set in the fictional town of Franklin Mills, Ohio tells the story of history teacher Jack Felter as he returns to his pastoral childhood home to care for his ailing father and is pulled into a grand conspiracy involving the rewriting of American history.

[25] King granted Renner the rights to adapt this story as part of his Dollar Baby program for aspiring filmmakers.