Washington
Kinkajou found abandoned and wandering Washington state road
Peekaboo!
A small raccoon-like mammal known as a “kinkajou” was rescued earlier this week after being found climbing a dusty Washington road pole. The nocturnal critters are indigenous to the rainforest and were once made popular as an exotic pet by Paris Hilton.
The rescued kinkajou was seen peeking around a wooden sign pole at a rest area in East Selah, Yakima County, according to a photo posted to X Monday by the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The agency says it wasn’t sure if the kinkajou, also known as a honey bear, was dropped off there or escaped, but it has since been brought to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for a comprehensive wellness exam at its animal hospital.
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A small raccoon-like mammal known as a kinkajou was rescued this week after being found climbing a dusty Washington state road pole. (Washington State Department of Transportation I SGranitz/WireImage )
“We are awaiting the results of diagnostic testing, including comprehensive blood work, to get a complete assessment of his health,” the zoo posted to Facebook along with a short video of the examination.
Head Veterinarian Dr. Karen said the young kinkajou is in fair health overall but is very thin, weighing only 2½ pounds. He has a good appetite, and staff is feeding him a full and healthy diet, the zoo said in the post.
“This young kinkajou’s survival is a testament to the collaborative efforts of state wildlife law enforcement and the Zoo, highlighting the dangers of the illegal pet trade,” the post added.
The zoo said that while kinkajous are not endangered, they are hunted for fur, meat and the exotic pet trade, which threatens their wild population. Its skin is often used to make wallets and horse saddles.
PARIS HILTON BITTEN BY PET KINKAJOU
A small tree-hugging “kinkajou” was rescued this week after being found climbing a dusty Washington road pole. (Washington State Department of Transportation I Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, right.)
Kinkajous live in tropical rainforests from southern Mexico through Brazil. They are small carnivores with prehensile tails, often mistakenly called primates, the zoo said.
The kinkajou has sandy yellow fur, a round head, large black eyes and a short, pointed snout as well as short limbs. Mature kinkajous can weigh up to about 10 pounds and stretch to 52 inches in length. They feed on fruits, roots, shoots, nuts and seeds.
“Despite their cuteness, kinkajous do not make good pets,” the zoo said, although that hasn’t stopped socialite Hilton from owning one.
The influencer and activist has been pictured in the past holding a kinkajou she called “Baby Luv.”
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Kinkajou Harley is held by San Francisco Zoo Education Specialist Amy Goodwin during an event at the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens at the Willie Woo Woo Wong Chinese playground Feb. 17, 2016, in San Francisco. (Leah Millis/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Baby Luv bit Hilton in the arm in 2006, prompting her to go to a hospital, where the wound was treated and given a tetanus shot.
The National Institutes of Health says kinkajou bites require the usual tetanus prophylaxis, rabies vaccine and wound cleaning. In most cases, antibiotics are prescribed to prevent the development of cellulitis or osteomyelitis.
Paris Hilton attends the 2023 LACMA Art+Film Gala at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Nov. 4, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for LACMA)
The zoo said the kinkajou is recuperating at the zoo while officials look to find it a permanent home.
Trinity Rodman signs record deal with Washington Spirit
USWNT forward Trinity Rodman signed a three-year deal with the NWSL’s Washington Spirit. The deal makes Rodman the highest-paid female footballer in the world.
unbranded – Sport
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.
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.
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