Washington
Suspect wanted for criminal homicide accidentally released back behind bars in Washington County
A Washington County man, wanted for criminal homicide, is back behind bars after the district attorney said he was accidentally released from jail.
Samuel Valle was arrested this afternoon and brought right back to the Washington County Jail after he was accidentally released in December.
Meanwhile, local officials have been very tight-lipped about the mishap and it remains unclear when or why 21-year-old Valle was released.
He’s been wanted since he failed to show up for his court appearance last week, according to the Washington County District Attorney. That hearing was to face homicide charges in a case dating back to 2023.
Valle didn’t show up because he was accidentally released from the jail in December.
According to online documents, Valle is facing several charges in multiple counties and prior to his court hearing last week, the Westmoreland County Prison said Valle was in their jail in October, where he remained for several court appearances there through December.
On December 11, he was sentenced, then two days later, on December 13, he was transferred back to Washington.
Meanwhile, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said Valle was believed to be accidentally released on December 4.
We asked the warden and clerk of courts when Valle was actually released and both said it’s an open investigation with the clerk of courts saying all paperwork for his release was handled properly.
Their office did everything right, even though the paperwork showed that Valle shouldn’t have been released and his bail was continuously denied.
The district attorney said investigators tracked Valle down on Wednesday afternoon to a home in Washington where he was arrested and is now back behind bars.
Now the question is – how was he accidentally released and who will be held accountable?
“Obviously we’re happy today that we apprehended this individual and nobody else was hurt or put in harm’s way, especially these officers who put their lives on the line today,” said Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh. “Obviously I believe the county will be looking into the whatever occurred and we’ll be part of the solution.”
It remains unclear who authorized his release or when it happened.
The Washington County Commissioners released a statement on Wednesday afternoon after Valle’s arrest saying, “We are collaborating with the county courts to identify where the mistake occurred and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Washington
Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant
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.
Washington
Washington state board awards Yakima $985,600 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.
Washington
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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