Washington

June brilliance extends to Saturday in the D.C. area

Published

2 years ago

June 9, 2024

June brilliance extends to Saturday in the D.C. area

Sometimes all that can be done about weather in the D.C. area is to accept it, but on Saturday acceptance meant enjoyment, as warm temperatures, blue skies, bright sunshine and low humidity joined to form a kind of meteorological all-star team.

Saturday’s high temperature in the District reached 86 degrees, which happened to be a degree lower than Friday’s 87. It was three degrees above the average high for the capital on June 8, but appeared unlikely to create hardship or cause complaint.

Importantly, humidity, often the bane of the D.C. area’s summers, seemed again to be distinguished by its absence. Humidity prevents perspiration from evaporating; it soaks clothing, saps strength and may even test the spirit.

But Saturday, like Friday, seemed to be a no-sweat day in the District, permitting exertion without the accumulation of perspiration. Both days seemed an atmospheric world apart from the conditions that only Wednesday brought the area turbulence, thunderstorms and tornadoes.

It seemed so unusually dry for Washington at this time of year as almost to prompt worry about whether any environmental ransom had been paid to obtain so pleasant a day.

Storms, brewed from heat and humidity, seemed remote from possibility. But while humidity may ebb and flow, and while temperatures may rise and fall, one thing is constant in June, and that is the strength of the sun.

Too few clouds seemed to populate Saturday’s skies to shield Washington from the unmediated intensity of June sunshine. It threw a white glare over walls and walks. It made the glossy leaves on trees shine like tiny mirrors. It seemed to be reflected by every blade of grass.

Even with the dryness of the air, wisdom and physiological capacity seemed to suggest limiting exposure to the sun at the time of its peak annual intensity.

Shadows are short at this time of year. As the summer solstice approaches, the sun is high in the sky. On Saturday its peak midday elevation reached 74 degrees. That is only 16 short of being directly overhead, and easily enough to challenge the flexibility of necks and spines if an attempt is made to glimpse it.

With the sun so high in the sky, shade and shadows may be a little more difficult to find.

But they nevertheless provided a welcome resource and respite for any attempts to spend the entirety of a June day outdoors. With its 14 hours and 50 minutes of daylight, that applied to even so pleasurable a day as Saturday.

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Washington

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Published

24 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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