Washington
Borer Brings Reading Tour to Washington School’s English Language Program
Written by Michael P. Walsh
WEST HAVEN, CT — Mayor Dorinda Borer brought her reading tour to a temporarily relocated elementary school on Meloy Road to highlight the importance of literacy.
On Tuesday, Feb. 27, Borer met with students at Washington Elementary School and read children’s books, including the 2004 Mo Willems book “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale,” to students of the school’s English Language Learners program for grades K-4.
The school is housed until further notice in the former Molloy Elementary School building at 255 Meloy Road while a new Washington school is constructed at 369 Washington Ave.
The ELL program is composed of 127 students, including 13 newcomers, and is led by ELL-certified teachers Pauline Moycik, Meghan Abate and Helen Soufrine.
According to Washington Principal Alicia M. Limosani, at least 18 different languages are spoken by the students and their families.
During the half-hour reading session, an energetic and engaging Borer received enthusiastic comments and responses from the classroom of students.
To show their gratitude for the mayor’s visit, students presented Borer with two bouquets of flowers and two large signs with “Thank You Mayor” printed in colored markers.
Borer said she plans to hang the paper signs in her office at City Hall before making more stops on her school reading tour during Read Across America Week.
The five-day event, promoted as “celebrating a nation of diverse readers,” kicks off March 2, the birthday of children’s author Dr. Seuss, and runs through March 6.
Read Across America, established in 1998, is an initiative of the Washington, D.C.-based National Education Association to encourage reading. The year-round program focuses on “motivating children to read through events, partnerships and reading resources that are about everyone, for everyone.”
West Haven Mayor Dorinda Borer on Tuesday, Feb. 27, reads the 2004 Mo Willems children’s book “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale” to students of Washington Elementary School’s English Language Learners program for grades K-4. The West Haven school is temporarily housed in the former Molloy Elementary School building at 255 Meloy Road while a new Washington school is constructed at 369 Washington Ave. The ELL program is led by ELL-certified teachers Pauline Moycik, Meghan Abate and Helen Soufrine. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)
West Haven Mayor Dorinda Borer is surprised with two bouquets of flowers given by students of Washington Elementary School’s English Language Learners program for grades K-4. Before receiving the bouquets, Borer read children’s books to the students, including the 2004 Mo Willems book “Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale.” (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)
West Haven Mayor Dorinda Borer is all smiles with students and teachers of Washington Elementary School’s English Language Learners program for grades K-4. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)
This press release was produced by the City of West Haven. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima could soon take a major step toward redesigning Sixth Avenue after the Washington State Public Works Board awarded the city a $985,600 loan.
The loan was approved for the design engineering phase of the Sixth Avenue project. The funding can also be used along Sixth Avenue for utility replacement and updated ADA use.
The Yakima City Council must decide whether to accept the award. If the council accepts it, the city’s engineering work will move forward with the design of Sixth Avenue.
The cost of installing trolley lines is excluded from the plan. The historic trolleys would need to raise the funds required to add trolley lines.
The award is scheduled to be discussed during next week’s City Council meeting.
Microsoft will ramp up its investment in the University of Washington.
Brad Smith, the company’s president, made the announcement at a press conference with University of Washington President Robert Jones on Tuesday.
That means hiring more UW graduates as interns at Microsoft, he said.
And he said all students, faculty, and researchers should have access to free, or at least deeply-discounted, AI.
“ Some of it is compute that Microsoft is donating, and some of it is pursuant to an agreement where, believe me, we give the University of Washington probably the best pricing that anybody’s gonna find anywhere,” Smith said. He assured the small group of reporters present that it would be “many millions of dollars of additional computational resources.”
The announcement today didn’t include any specific numbers.
But Smith said Microsoft has already invested $165 million in the UW over several decades.
He pointed to Jones’ vision to spur “radical collaborations with businesses and communities to advance positive change,” and eliminate “any artificial barriers between the university and the communities it serves.”
Microsoft’s goal is for AI to help UW researchers solve some of the world’s biggest problems without introducing new ones.
At Tuesday’s announcement, several research students were present to demonstrate how AI supports their work.
Amelia Keyser-Gibson is an environmental scientist at the UW. She’s using AI to analyze photographs of vines, to find which adapt best to climate change.
It’s a paradox: AI produces carbon emissions. At the same time, it’s also a new tool to help reduce them.
So how do those things square for Keyser-Gibson?
“ That’s a great question, and honestly, I don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “I’m highly aware that there’s a lot of environmental impact of using AI, but what I can say is that this has allowed us to make research innovations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”
“If we had had to manually annotate every single image that would’ve been an undergrad doing that for hours,” Keyser-Gibson continued. “And we didn’t have the budget. We didn’t have the manpower to do that.”
“AI exists. If we don’t use it as researchers, we’re gonna fall behind.”
Microsoft reports on its own carbon emissions. But like most AI companies, it doesn’t reveal everything.
That’s one reason another UW student named Zhihan Zhang is using AI to estimate how much energy AI is using.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who survived a gunshot wound to the head while patrolling with…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, who survived a gunshot wound to the head while patrolling with the National Guard in Washington last year, was presented the Purple Heart medal during Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Trump honored Wolfe and his colleague, U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom during his speech, before pausing so Gen. James Seward, head of the West Virginia National Guard, could pin the medal on Wolfe’s civilian suit.
“With God’s help, Andrew has battled back from the edge of death—and we’re talking about the edge—on his way to a miraculous recovery,” Trump said.
“Nice to see you,” he added, looking up at Wolfe in the gallery.
Trump recalled his mother’s determination that he would recover, even as others doubted it would be possible to survive his severe injuries. She buried her head in her son’s chest as the president spoke.
Wolfe and Beckstrom, members of the West Virginia National Guard, were shot in an ambush on Nov. 26 while deployed to Washington as part of Trump’s executive order to battle what he said was rampant crime. Beckstrom died on Thanksgiving Day.
Trump also spoke directly to Beckstrom’s parents in the gallery.
“Your daughter was a true American patriot and she will be greatly missed,” Trump told Evalea and Gary Beckstrom.
The tributes prompted several minutes of bipartisan applause.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was wounded in the attack, has been charged in connection with the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody. Authorities say he drove across the country from his home in Washington state to execute the attack.
Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, officials said. The Biden administration program evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
Trump, who halted asylum decisions in response to the shooting, said during his speech that the gunman “shouldn’t have been in our country.”
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