Washington
Washington Post pushes Harris to answer 'legitimate questions' about her flip-flops, agenda
The left-leaning Washington Post editorial board argued that Vice President Harris, who has quickly succeeded President Biden as her party’s nominee, needs to engage more openly with voters and with the media.
“If she hopes to prevail, Ms. Harris needs to present her ideas,” The Post wrote in an editorial published on Sunday. “The media and public have legitimate questions, and she should face them. This is a political necessity — Mr. Trump is already turning her avoidance of the media into an attack line. And elections aren’t just about winning. They’re about accumulating political capital for a particular agenda, which Ms. Harris can’t do unless she articulates one.”
Harris is facing increasing pressure to answer questions from the media after largely dodging questions and interview requests, save for brief gaggles with her traveling press corps.
Prior to Thursday, Harris went 18 days without taking press questions and continues to dodge formal media engagements. She even declined an interview opportunity with TIME, which published a gushing piece about her “reintroduction” on Monday.
MSNBC HOST REBUKES REPORTERS ‘WHINING’ OVER HARRIS’ PRESS AVOIDANCE, WONDERS IF SHE CAN WIN ‘WITHOUT THEM’
The editorial board wrote that it might be “tempting” for Harris “to stay as vague on the issues as possible, for as long as possible, to avoid giving fodder to the opposition or dividing her supporters,” she still has to grapple with making a serious case as to her policy positions. (Jim Vondruska / Stringer)
The board called out Harris for blatantly switching positions on a number of key topics for her 2024 campaign, including border security, fracking and health care.
“All of this moves her toward more popular positions,” the aper wrote. “Still, it’s a lot of mind-changing for the public to absorb without further explanation. Without hearing Ms. Harris articulate her thought process, she runs the risk of leaving voters to wonder whether she is just shifting with the political winds, or, indeed, planning to revert to previous positions after she’s won the presidency. Why, for instance, did she embrace Mr. Trump’s idea to exempt tips from taxation?”
The editorial board wrote that it might be “tempting” for Harris “to stay as vague on the issues as possible, for as long as possible, to avoid giving fodder to the opposition or dividing her supporters,” but she still has to grapple with making a serious case as to her policy positions.
The Post also listed a series of questions that it said Harris still needs to answer, including whether she asked Biden to “keep some U.S. troops in the country” when he decided to pull out of Afghanistan. On the Israel-Hamas war, Harris needs to explain if she believes in being “tougher on Israel and more sympathetic to the Palestinians,” especially after she announced her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
HARRIS MOCKED FOR TAKING LESS THAN 2 MINUTES OF QUESTIONS AFTER 18 DAYS: ‘THIS IS THE BEST KAMALA COULD DO?’
The Post also listed a series of questions that it said Harris still needs to answer, including whether she asked Biden to “keep some U.S. troops in the country” when he decided to pull out of Afghanistan. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
“The ‘vibe’ around the vice president’s campaign launch has been undeniably strong among Democrats, but she can’t bask in it forever,” The Post continued. “The more substance Ms. Harris can offer before the election, the more control she will have over what voters think of her and the more of a mandate she would have to govern should she prevail in November.”
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The Harris campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, the Harris campaign told Fox News Digital it was conducting a strategy to best reach voters when asked about its lack of press availability.
“With under 90 days to go, the Vice President’s top priority is earning the support of the voters who will decide this election,” a spokesperson said. “In a limited time period and a fragmented media environment, that requires us being strategic, creative, and expeditious in getting our message to those voters in the ways that are most impactful – through paid media, on the ground organizing, an aggressive campaign schedule, and of course interviews that reach our target voters. It’s a far cry from Trump’s losing, ineffective strategy of rage-posting, accosting reporters, and insulting the voters he’ll need to win.”
Fox News’ Yael Halon contributed to this report.
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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