Washington

Halfway through March, all the way to weather bliss

Published

2 years ago

March 16, 2024

Halfway through March, all the way to weather bliss

One half of the way through March, Washington appeared to bask in a Saturday bursting with the signs and sights of spring, rich in the elements of meteorological satisfaction.

Dry and delightful, Saturday defied the dismal trend of downpour established on the first two Saturdays of the month. Instead, it provided a sparkling day of ever-increasing spring sunshine.

At times, only an occasional small cloud drifted in a sea of blue sky, seeming almost out of place, a bit of scenery left behind by the departure of some earlier atmospheric melodrama.

The high temperature reached 66 degrees. In that regard, it failed to follow the pattern set by the four preceding days, all of which achieved readings in the 70s.

But it seemed warm, and in fact the high was 10 degrees above the average high here for the 16th of March, a pivotal day on the calendar, falling between the ides on the 15th and St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th.

This year, it was also a mere three days from the day of the equinox, which falls on March 19, and is widely accepted as the formal start of spring.

But to accept the evidence of the senses, it seemed that spring, like the ides, has already come to the capital. In wooded areas, the haze of green created by the sprouting of leaves, seems to grow brighter each day. At the Tidal Basin, the cherry blossoms seem to be trembling at the verge of full bloom.

And in the bright sunshine, out of the shadows and not required to exist under a blanket of clouds, a day such as Friday with a high of 66 provides the physical feel and creature comforts of a far warmer day.

With 15 days of March behind it, and 15 ahead of it, Saturday, the exact midpoint of the month, seemed a kind of ambassador of springtime. It appeared to be the sort of day that in weather terms might be described as disappointing in only one significant way. Like all the days that came before it, it will not come again.

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Washington

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Published

23 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

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

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).

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.

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

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Washington

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

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

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

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.

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Washington

Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Published

2 days ago

February 25, 2026

Press Room

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.

“ 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.

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