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Chipotle workers say DC woman made violent threats toward them

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Chipotle workers say DC woman made violent threats toward them


A D.C. woman is facing charges after workers at a Chipotle restaurant in Columbia Heights say she made violent threats.

Chanae Ridian Watson, 32, entered the restaurant on 14th Street NW with her mother Monday evening, angry because her mom had slipped on uneven pavement outside the restaurant, according to police.

Employees who did not want to be identified for safety concerns said Watson demanded the restaurant make repairs.

“We told the guy that we were going to take into consideration what happened, but the problem was not with us, it was with the building. We were going to let the manager of the building know about the situation,” one employee said.

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The employees said Watson and her mother eventually left, but Watson returned. They said she became irate when the workers spoke Spanish with each other.

Watson threatened to shoot up the business and to come back and wait for them outside, according to a police report. 

“Threatening to kill, threatening to hurt us,” an employee said. “Also, offending the other workers. Started just calling out really horrible names.” 

Security asked the suspect to leave multiple times, according to the police report. She refused and escalated the situation. 

The police report quotes Watson as saying: “They don’t speak English; they don’t understand. You aren’t even born here, you are not a citizen, and she is going to vote for Trump.” Watson also said, “This is America. Learn English,” according to police.

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The workers said they felt intimidated.

“I feel very unsafe, and every day, I and our team feel not safe coming to work,” one said.

Police stopped Watson outside the restaurant. She was visibly loud, angry and hysterical and refused to cooperate, the police report says. 

Watson was arrested and charged with making threats to kidnap or injure, unlawful entry, and hate crime based on racial group animus. Police said the crime is being investigated as potentially being motivated by hate or bias. Watson pleaded not guilty.

“We come here to work and support the country,” an employee said. “We do a lot of things that other people don’t want to do it, and they see how we work, but I feel unappreciated.” 

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“It’s not really ever good just to look at somebody and discriminate against them just by the way they look without getting to know them or knowing them in general,” another employee said. “I felt very disappointed in a way.”

The employees said they’re continuing to work but they’re anxious and worried it could happen again.

Watson could not be reached for comment.

“We are aware of the incident that occurred at our 3113 14th Street NW Washington, D.C., restaurant and thankful that no team members were harmed by this senseless act,” Chipotle said in a statement to News4. “We are working cooperatively with the authorities handling this investigation and hope justice will be served for the individuals who did not treat our employees with the respect that they deserve.”



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Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

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Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant


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Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July.

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The couple made the announcement in a video on the Spirit’s social media channels, holding a baby goalkeeper jersey on the pitch at Audi Field.

Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit star to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch.

Sullivan gave birth to daughter Millie in July, while Hatch welcomed her son Leo in January.

Krueger announced she was pregnant with her second child in October.

Kingsbury has served as the Spirit’s starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021).

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The 34-year-old has two caps with the U.S. women’s national team, and was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.

The club captain will leave a major void for the Spirit, who have finished as NWSL runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

Sandy MacIver and Kaylie Collins are expected to compete for the starting role while Kingsbury is on maternity leave.

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The Spirit kick off their 2026 campaign on March 13 against the Portland Thorns.





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Washington state board awards Yakima $985,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

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Washington state board awards Yakima 5,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design


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.

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The award is scheduled to be discussed during next week’s City Council meeting.



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Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

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Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington


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.

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“ 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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.



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