Morning Press: iPads for autistic, ‘In God We Trust,’ ‘Sunshine Girl’

After the rainy weekend, where is the sun? Check the forecast.

Top news of the weekend or stories you may have missed:

Technology giving every child a voice

Standing in his living room, Bryce Smith told his son, Dylan: “Use your words. Tell me what you want.”

The boy’s hands quickly swiped through three screens of an application on his iPad digital tablet to find what he was looking for.

The iPad spoke aloud for Dylan. “Toy train!”

Dylan touched the screen again. “Toy train!”

Although Dylan Smith, 10, cannot speak, he is learning how to communicate.

So is Austin Porter.

Austin and his mom, Alicia Miner, sat on Austin’s bedroom floor building a long chain with colored plastic links. The game helps Austin practice fine motor skills, colors and numbers. The iPad on his lap helps Austin speak. He used his iPad and an app to tell his mom what link color he wanted next:

“Red! Red!”

Miner handed her son a red link. He added it to his chain.

Then he used his iPad to tell his mom: “I want rice snacks.”

Learn more about technology helping communication.

County seeks old contractor to make motto match

It could be more than a month before “In God We Trust” goes up in the Clark County council’s public hearing chamber, Acting County Manager Mark McCauley said.

After a contentious meeting featuring several hours of public comment, the council voted 2-1 on Feb. 24 to display the national motto in the hearing room. Councilor Jeanne Stewart cast the dissenting vote.

County staff are trying to track down the contractor who created the letters for Clark County’s motto, “Proud past, promising future,” to produce the new display in the same style, McCauley said. Plans on where exactly to post the controversial motto are still in the works.

McCauley, meanwhile, made it clear that “In God We Trust” will be the only motto going up on the wall in county chambers. The council is not accepting any other suggestions despite several offered by those who protested posting the motto, he said.

Read more about progress on the new motto.

Rivers tells reasoning for vote on $15 billion transportation package

Sen. Ann Rivers hosted three town hall meetings Saturday in Clark County to explain why she’s the only local senator to support a proposed $15 billion state transportation package.

Dozens gathered throughout the day in Ridgefield, Battle Ground and Camas to listen to the La Center Republican and ask questions about a variety of key legislative issues from oil train safety and marijuana regulation to the big question of how the state will find enough money for education.

Most of the talk hovered around transportation issues, touching often on how Southwest Washington moves forward from a failed fight to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge.

The latest transportation package proposal passed out of the Senate on a 27-22 vote this month, with Vancouver Sens. Don Benton and Annette Cleveland — a Republican and a Democrat, respectively — standing against the measure. The package awaits a vote in the House, where Rivers said she’s confident she can push legislators to adopt an amendment to add funding for a major road project in north Clark County.

Rivers — who sits on the Senate Transportation Committee with Benton and Cleveland — said it wasn’t easy to support the package.

Read more about Sen. Rivers’ town hall meetings.

‘Sunshine’ steps into spotlight

With recent TV appearances on the “Today” show and MSNBC, a trip to The Weinstein Co. Oscar party in Hollywood, Calif., and the launch of a national book tour, it’s apparent that Vancouver’s once-little YouTube channel has grown up.

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl Network, which launched in Clark County in October 2010 as a project between Nick Hagen, Mercedes Rose and Paige McKenzie, is gaining national attention as the next “Twilight,” “Hunger Games” or “Divergent” for the young adult market.

Working with Weinstein, one of the biggest names in Hollywood, the stalwart band of Pacific Northwesterners will release their first book Tuesday — not in small shops, but in such big retail outlets as Target, Wal-Mart, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, Costco and Amazon.

And the book, called, creatively enough, “The Haunting of Sunshine Girl,” has already gotten kudos from “Goosebumps” author R.L. Stine and renowned horror director Wes Craven.

“Things that go bump in the night are afraid to read this book. … Read it if you dare, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Craven said in a promotional blurb.

Learn more about Haunting of Sunshine Girl.

Express delivery: Dash didn’t dawdle

When Hailee and Dan Stewart told friends and family they planned to name their baby boy Dash, they were often met with jokes about whether Dash would live up to his name.

Hopefully he’ll be a sprinter, they teased.

When Dash entered the world Monday, he didn’t disappoint.

“It was all done, start to finish, in 45 minutes,” Hailee said.

Dash’s arrival — which came two and a half weeks before Hailee’s due date — was so quick, Hailee didn’t even make it to the hospital. She delivered her son on the bathroom floor of her Salmon Creek home, just 2 miles from the hospital.

“You’d think, 5 minutes away, you’d make it,” Hailee said.

Hailee works from home and was in the middle of a business call when she thought she felt her water break. After wrapping up her conversation, Hailee called Dan and her mom and sent a couple of her neighbors text messages, letting everyone know the baby was coming early.

Read the rest about Dash’s appearance.