WA state superintendent calls on schools to limit cell phone use. Here’s why

“Reducing the use of cell phones in class improves concentration and learning, improves mental and physical health, and reduces pressures caused by social media,” Reykdal [Chris Reykdal], the state superintendent] said in the guidance document.

Excerpt from The Olympian via yahoo!news:

The Washington state Superintendent of Public Instruction is encouraging local school leaders to limit cell phone use during instructional time by changing policies over the next year.

Chris Reykdal, the state superintendent, called for new school policies regarding cell phone and smart device use in a news release Wednesday.

The guidance calls for school leaders to work with their local communities to update their policies by the start of the 2025-26 school year. This messaging comes as many schools across the state and nation have started to restrict or plan to restrict cell phone use to improve education and health outcomes.

“Reducing the use of cell phones in class improves concentration and learning, improves mental and physical health, and reduces pressures caused by social media,” Reykdal said in the guidance document.

Specifically, Reykdal suggests school leaders implement uniform, school-wide policies to create consistent expectations of students, staff and families.

Exceptions may be implemented when educators need to use devices as part of a lesson plan or in the event of an emergency, Reykdal advises. Additionally, schools should accommodate students with disabilities who use devices to support their learning as part of their Individualized Education Program, the guidance says.

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+ Children’s Health Defense: FCC Knew Phones Exceeded Radiation Limits, Hid Info From Public and Courts – FCC testing showed popular cellphone brands exceeded the agency’s safety limits for human exposure to wireless radiation, but the agency hid the information from the public and the courts, according to data obtained by the Environmental Health Trust.

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+ Children’s Health Defense: No More Research on Cellphone Radiation and Human Health, Government Says – The National Toxicology Program said it no longer plans to study the effects of cellphone radiation on human health, citing technical challenges and lack of resources — even though its own $30 million study found evidence of cancer and DNA damage.

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+ The Washington Post via MSN: I switched to a flip phone and dramatically improved my well-being – Setting aside my iPhone has led to many inconveniences but also more conversations and connection.

‘It’s Insane’: Big Telecom Pushes Bad Cell Tower Deals on ‘Literally Hundreds’ of Schools

Schools looking for money are allowing telecommunications companies to put cell towers on school property, despite the health risks of long-term wireless radiation exposure. School boards often don’t tell parents until after the deal is signed.

Excerpt from Children’s Health Defense:

Telecommunications companies are targeting school properties as prime locations for installing cell towers, antennas and other wireless infrastructure — and many schools are taking the bait, said attorney Robert Berg.

Berg represents parents in multiple lawsuits challenging proposals for cell towers or wireless antenna placements at their kids’ schools.

He told The Defender that “literally hundreds” of U.S. school boards have signed long-term leases with telecom companies.

“The school board members think it’s easy money,” Berg said. The school leaders rent out bits of school property to the wireless companies — such as a small site next to an athletic field or space on the school roof — for a monthly fee.

Many times school leaders have “no idea what they’re doing.”

“They lock themselves into bad contracts that can last for decades, at below market rate terms,” Berg said. “Meanwhile, the cell towers are irradiating all the kids, the staff and the teachers the entire school day, along with the surrounding neighbors 24/7.”

Parents frequently don’t learn of the deal until after it’s been signed — and then it’s too late, he said.

One of Berg’s cases involves what he called “a nightmare scenario” in Wyandotte, Michigan, where the school board, after literally 48 seconds of discussion, approved a contract with T-Mobile to pay the district $1,000 a month to operate a “massive array” of wireless antennas on the chimney atop Washington Elementary School.

Parents didn’t find out until the antennas were being installed. They protested, but the school board and superintendent insisted the contract would not be broken.

Parent dissatisfaction grew so great that the superintendent was forced to resign. The new superintendent asked T-Mobile to move the antennas to a district site — and the superintendent offered to build a taller cell tower for T-Mobile at the district’s expense.

T-Mobile refused.

Several parents sued to prevent T-Mobile from activating the antennas. The parents initially succeeded in court, but then the court dismissed their suit and allowed T-Mobile to turn on the antennas.

Read more

Old Farmer’s Almanac releases Pacific Northwest’s 2024-2025 winter weather extended forecast

Excerpt from KOIN-6 TV News, CBS Portland:

Although it’s still summer, winter weather is approaching sooner than we may want to consider.

Calling it the “Great Winter Weather Reveal,” the Old Farmer’s Almanac is sharing its annual predictions for what Mother Nature has in store for the Pacific Northwest and the rest of the U.S. for the 2024-2025 winter season.

Each section for its winter extended forecast reports on how cold winter is expected in that region and whether there will be snow, but the key to this extended winter outlook is one thing: How much La Niña could play a role.

Oregon and Washington are divided into two regions for the Old Farmer’s Almanac: The Pacific Northwest, which covers the western portion of the states up to the Cascades, and then the Intermountain area, which covers central and eastern Oregon and Washington through all of Idaho into some of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, most of Utah and even some of northern Arizona.

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For the Pacific Northwest, which spans from the Canadian border to northern California, it depends on where you live, according to the Old Farmers’ Almanac. Sick of summer? NOAA releases fall weather predictions for the Pacific Northwest

“Precipitation and snowfall will be above average in the north and below average in the south,” the forecast said. “The snowiest periods will be in late December, early January, and early February.”

As for how cold it could be, again, it all depends on where you live in the region.

“Winter temperatures will be colder than normal in the north and warmer in the south,” the forecast says. “The coldest periods will fall in early and late January and early March.”

Walk-Aboard Tugboat Show At Percival Landing
Saturday, August 31, 2024
10:00PM to 5:00PM
Vintage Tugboat Races
Sunday, September 1, 2024
Tugboat Procession to the Race Course
12:00 PM  Races in Budd Bay
Vintage Tugboat Races start between 12:30PM and 1:00PM

Excerpt from The Olympian:

Olympia Harbor Days: This free, three-day annual festival has been happening on Labor Day Weekend since 1974. It showcases vintage tugboats, tall ships, steamships, and other historic vessels of 20th-century commerce on the Puget Sound. This year, it also will feature a Maritime-Themed Drone Light Show and night market on Friday night. The festival launches at 5 p.m. Friday and runs through 6 p.m. Sunday. On land, festival attendees enjoy food vendors, live music, artisan merchants, plus nautical and marine-themed attractions and hands-on activities. On the water, maritime fans enjoy tours of historic tugboats and vessels, cruises on Budd Bay, and vintage tugboat races on Sunday afternoon. The festival also includes locally hand-built small watercraft, tribal cultural sharings, sand carving, a LEGO Harbor Build, and dancing pirates. The center of activities is Percival Landing in downtown Olympia.

Zuckerberg says he regrets not being more outspoken about ‘government pressure’ on COVID content

Excerpt from The Hill via MSN:

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday that he regrets not being more outspoken about “government pressure” to take down content related to COVID-19.

Zuckerberg said senior Biden administration officials “repeatedly pressured” Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to “censor” content in 2021.

“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken,” he wrote to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

“Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction — and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again,” Zuckerberg added. 

The Meta CEO also said the company “shouldn’t have demoted” a New York Post story about corruption allegations involving President Biden’s family ahead of the 2020 election while waiting for fact-checkers to review it. 

The social media company has since updated its policies and processes, including no longer demoting content in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers, he noted. 

Zuckerberg also said in Monday’s letter that he does not plan to make contributions to local jurisdictions to support election infrastructure this cycle, like he did during the 2020 election. 

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“Mark Zuckerberg just admitted three things: 1. Biden-Harris Admin ‘pressured’ Facebook to censor Americans. 2. Facebook censored Americans. 3. Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story,” the panel wrote on the social platform X. 

“Mark Zuckerberg also tells the Judiciary Committee that he won’t spend money this election cycle. That’s right, no more Zuck-bucks. Huge win for election integrity,” it added. 

Plastic Is Building Up in Our Brains — Scientists Say It’s a Global Emergency

A growing body of research shows microplastics reach nearly everywhere in the body, creating vast and unknown dangers.

Excerpt from Truthout:

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that microplastics are accumulating in critical human organs, including the brain, alarming findings that highlight a need for more urgent actions to rein in plastic pollution, researchers say.

Different studies have detected tiny shards and specks of plastics in human lungs, placentas, reproductive organs, livers, kidneys, knee and elbow joints, blood vessels, and bone marrow.

Given the research findings, “it is now imperative to declare a global emergency” to deal with plastic pollution, said Sedat Gündoğdu, who studies microplastics at Cukurova University in Turkey.

Humans are exposed to microplastics — defined as fragments smaller than five millimeters in length — and the chemicals used to make plastics from widespread plastic pollution in air, water, and even food.

The health hazards of microplastics within the human body are not yet well-known. Recent studies are just beginning to suggest these particles could increase the risk of various conditions such as oxidative stress, which can lead to cell damage and inflammation, as well as cardiovascular disease.

Animal studies have also linked microplastics to fertility issues, various cancers, a disrupted endocrine and immune system, and impaired learning and memory.

There are currently no governmental standards for plastic particles in food or water in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency is working on crafting guidelines for measuring them, and has been giving out grants since 2018 to develop new ways to quickly detect and quantify them.

Finding microplastics in more and more human organs “raises a lot of concerns,” given what we know about health effects in animals, studies of human cells in the lab, and emerging epidemiological studies, said Bethanie Carney Almroth, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. “It’s scary, I’d say.”

Read more

Yelm educators vote to strike
Strike will begin Tuesday, Sept. 3, if educators and Yelm Community Schools are unable to reach an agreement

From the Yelm Education Association news release:

Without a fair contract settlement, Yelm educators will be on strike Tuesday, Sept. 3, the first day of school. Members of the Yelm Education Association (YEA) overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to approve the strike if no ratified tentative agreement has been reached. The motion passed with 97.5% in support of the strike.

Yelm Community Schools administrators have refused to offer educators a fair deal, one that would secure competitive compensation for Yelm educators, and equitable class sizes. Without a significant shift in the district’s position, Yelm certificated educators will struggle to achieve the support and relief YEA members need to do their jobs safely and effectively.

The district continues to propose:

• Cutting daily planning time for elementary teachers
• Eliminating overload payments
• Refusing to put any limits on special education and counseling caseloads
• Eliminating counselor positions and making it harder for them to support our students
• Refusing to pass through state-funded salary increases
• Refusing to ensure emergency call buttons are in every classroom

YEA and Yelm Community Schools are working with a state-appointed mediator.

“We want our students to be successful so we need to have manageable class sizes and time to work with students to provide a quality education,” says Kat Cullum, YEA Co-President and middle school teacher. “Our community expects our district to keep high quality educators and attract new ones. In order to do so, we need a fair contract that prioritizes student success.”

Yelm Education Association represents about 350 certificated educators in the Yelm School District.

+ August 30, 2024: Metro via MSN: Spaghetti-eating crook’s bizarre note after breaking into home and terrorizing community

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Homeowners near Yelm ‘terrorized’ by burglar prowling their community

A spaghetti-eating bandit has been prowling people’s cars, homes and garages in the Clearwood community, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

Excerpt from KING-5 TV News, NBC Seattle:

Over the last week, homeowners in a gated community called Clearwood near Yelm say they’ve being “terrorized” by a burglar and prowler.

Thurston County Sheriff’s deputies told KING 5 that they know who it is and partnered with a local agency to conduct a K9 search of the neighborhood on Sunday. However, they were unsuccessful.

“He actually broke into my car, and he got my garage key, and he got my gate key,” said Bethany Stirber, a homeowner. “He tried to get into my garage while I was home and we scared him off, but then he keeps coming back. And then every time we call the cops, it’s too — there’s too much time.”

Police response times are a concern for the Clearwood neighborhood because even though they are technically in the jurisdiction of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, the nearest public safety building is in Yelm, a 15 minute drive away.

The longer he remains at large, the more community’s concerns grow. 

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office’s public information officer said the suspected burglar has a warrant out for his arrest in Oregon. For this reason, if he is caught, they will have reason to arrest him. A supervisor within the office has informed deputies of the situation.

In the meantime, neighbors worry that their community’s total lack of cellphone service makes them a vulnerable target.

New law guarantees set recess time for all WA state K-5 elementary students

Excerpt from KCPQ-13 TV News, FOX Seattle:

As elementary students across Washington get ready to head back to school for the 2024-25 year, they can look forward to more time for their favorite part of the day: recess.

A new law that goes into effect this school year guarantees that all elementary school students will receive a minimum of 30 minutes of recess daily, marking a significant shift in how schools prioritize students’ physical and mental well-being.

Keep reading to learn more about the law, and how it will impact students across the state.

What does the new law entail?

The new law, signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2023, mandates that all students in grades K-5 receive at least 30 minutes of daily recess on school days longer than five hours. The recess must be held outdoors whenever possible and should be free from the use of technology like computers, tablets or phones. This legislation aims to standardize recess time across the state, ensuring that all students have consistent opportunities for unstructured play.

In addition to the mandatory recess time, the law directs the Washington State School Directors Association to establish policies that encourage middle and high schools to offer physical activity breaks. It also recommends holding recess before lunch, which research shows can lead to healthier eating habits and less food waste among students.

The law comes in response to a 2022 study by the King County Play Equity Coalition, which revealed wide disparities in recess time across the state. Some students enjoyed more than 45 minutes of recess daily, while others had less than 10 minutes. These differences often disproportionately affected boys and students of color, who were more likely to have recess withheld as punishment or to complete schoolwork.

The legislation prohibits using recess time as a disciplinary tool, a common practice that experts say negatively impacts children’s ability to focus and engage in class. By standardizing recess across the state, the law aims to create more equitable opportunities for all students to benefit from physical activity and play.

Read more

The TSA is expecting its busiest Labor Day travel period on record. Here’s how to prepare

Excerpt from The Points Guy:

On Wednesday, the Transportation Security Administration announced it is preparing to screen more than 17 million passengers between Thursday, Aug. 29, and Wednesday, Sept. 4 — if those numbers come to fruition, it could potentially be the busiest Labor Day travel period on record.

This latest forecast follows several recent record-breaking travel periods for the TSA. During the busy 2023 holiday season, the TSA set a single-day record for the number of passengers screened on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with 2.9 million passengers passing through its security lanes. It surpassed that number Sunday, June 23, when it screened nearly 3 million people in one day — shortly afterward, it blew past the 3 million threshold July 7.

When and where are people traveling?

The TSA predicts Aug. 30 will be the busiest travel day of the holiday, with an expected 2.86 million passengers. Overall, the agency expects an 8.5% increase in passengers compared to the same time period in 2023. Keep in mind that the TSA has already screened 239.8 million people since Memorial Day weekend — an average of 2.7 million per day.
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Tips for navigating the crowds

If your trip is already booked, there’s not much you can do to avoid the crowds entirely. But there are things you can do to navigate the airport quickly, efficiently and comfortably.

Arrive early

Have a backup plan

Get through airport security faster

Have the right credit card