Microsoft and Turn 10 studios have officially pulled the wraps off of Forza Motorsport 7, the first Forza designed to run on Xbox One X, Microsofts next-generation console. Last month, I went to Turn 10s offices to see Forza ahead of its E3 debut. I spent a little under 30 minutes playing the game, and the rest of the trip speaking with the team that brought it to life.

A half hour isnt enough time to provide a deep dive, but heres what I can say. Its the most beautiful Forza Motorsport ever. While its playable on Xbox One and will also be released on PC, it was really built for and alongside the development of what was then still called Project Scorpio, which means it will run natively at 60 frames per second at 4K resolution.

The cars look lifelike in most lighting, the tracks look good enough to walk around, and the skies in the demo were so picturesque I occasionally had a hard time watching the road. Speaking as someone who has an old 1080p screen on his wall, this is the kind of game that will make people like me think: maybe this is the year I buy a better TV.

700 cars, dynamic weather, and now: characters

Theres also more of, well, everything. Turn 10 is offering 700 cars at launch, nearly lapping the 450 from Forza Motorsport 6 and that includes the return of Porsche. There are 30 tracks (or locations) with more than 200 different configurations for players to run. The weather and night modes that were added in Forza 6 are no longer just modes: theres a fully dynamic weather system that changes with every race, sometimes even during the race. You can see the horizon shimmer in the distance on hot tracks. The puddles now change in real time when it pours, and on some tracks you can see the rain approaching off in the distance.

Forza 7 primarily leverages the new consoles power in order to emphasize realism. Wires, tubes, and the mirrors inside the cockpits of the race cars rattle in response to the bumps on the tarmac. Window netting ripples in the periphery as the wind whips by at 100 miles per hour. Even the windshield wipers shake as you barrel around a course.

While Turn 10 hasnt radically redefined the racing game, Forza 7 looks, at first glance, like a considerable visual upgrade compared to its last two predecessors. But it wont be the only racing game to run at 4K and 60p for long. So instead, the studio has been working on an entirely new challenge: making its car game more human.

An exclusive first look at 5 minutes of Forza Motorsport 7 gameplay.

A bell rings.

Im at Turn 10s headquarters, which is tucked into a business park hugged by trees about a drag race away from Microsofts home base in Redmond, Washington. And when I ask what the bells for, nobody's quite sure. The teams so burdened by E3 prep that theyve forgotten their Pavlovian responses.

Weve been basically living here, so if you smell some smells forgive us, Dan Greenawalt, Forzas creative director and a founder of Turn 10, tells me when I walk through the door. There are 18 days until Greenawalt will hop on stage at E3 to show off what the studio has spent the last two years working on. As if thats not enough weight on their shoulders, Forza Motorsport 7 is a Scorpio launch title, so it will serve as an early standard bearer for the console.

Eventually I learn the bell was for some newly-met goal, but nobody takes a moment to really celebrate. Theyre too giddy talking about the game. Spirits are up in Redmond. The team seems surprisingly rested, composed, and focused. Thats because Turn 10 is in the most enviable position for a game developer: Forza 7 is ahead of schedule.

Forza Motorsport 7 is farther ahead than usual

Not only has the game been running on Scorpio dev kits for a while now, its been running really well. At one point, I tried basically the same tech demo the folks at Digital Foundry wrote about, where the full field of cars was locked to a grid like a roller coaster, putting more of them in view than youd typically see during a race. This is one way the software team tests the games limits, and yet it was only pushing about 80 percent of the GPU and about 70 percent of the CPU.

Thats impressive for a game thats months away from release. Of the time I spent playing and watching other parts of Forza 7, the only truly unfinished bits visible to me were some of the menu graphics.

Forza 7 wouldnt be this far along if it wasnt for the partnership Turn 10 started a few years ago with UK-based Playground Studios, which makes the more arcade-style Forza Horizon series using the same Forza Tech game engine that Motorsport is built on. By staggering the release of Horizon in the years where there is no Motorsport, the teams are able to share knowledge and accelerate the pace of development.

Chris Tector, the teams software architect, calls that decision a turning point for the franchise. We can actually share those features back and forth between the titles, and it means both of them can become better with each release, more than they would if they were being developed in isolation, Tector says.

Its this approach that carved out room to add features like dynamic weather and an entirely new character component, Greenawalt explains, while also dramatically increasing the number of cars and tracks all as the team preps the game engine to run in 4K.

You go, hey, I've got this great team that can build anything. Let's not have them build everything, says Greenawalt. It allows that big team, instead of trying to just boil the ocean and do everything, they focus all that innovation in one place and can go in incredible areas.

The other big piece to getting Forza 7 ahead of schedule, though, is that Turn 10 has been developing the new game alongside Project Scorpio since the beginning. For a while, Turn 10 used simulations of the Scorpio hardware. Eventually, though, it came time to fire up the game on the real thing.

I was coming back from lunch and [Tector] came over, and he was vibrating, says Alan Hartman, the studio head for Turn 10. He was like, we're running on Scorpio, you want to see it? Hartman followed him over to a conference room that had its windows blacked out. I come in and I see the fan pointed at the circuit board and the ribbon cables strung out and brought around to the monitor. And sure enough, there we are, running.

Running smoothly, even. Typically, Hartman says, you get it working, and it's running at 10 frames a second, and you go okay, now I have to work weekends to get it working fast. It's super advantageous, because we get to focus on the game, not trying to build the tech layer.

We talk a lot about finding the fun, Greenawalt adds. You do all this work so that you're starting from a pretty fun place, but let's be honest it's a hypothetical fun place until you get [the game] in your hands. And when youre fighting the technology, just to get it to run, getting it stable, you can't find that fun, because it's all coming together at the last second.

Scorpio has already been touted for its head-spinning specs ahead of the official reveal. It cranks 6 teraflops of power, has 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, and a custom GPU that runs at 1172MHz. All which means its set to be the most powerful home console on the market.

That power is great for the looks and performance. But Turn 10's true focus in Forza Motorsport 7 is on something that raw power can't guarantee, something that will be a part of Forza going forward no matter which version you play.

While many of the people at Turn 10 appear well-rested, the mottled hair and the bags under Scott Lees eyes are a sign some have definitely lost some sleep over Forza 7. As the lead art director, Lees been shepherding one of the games most defining features: the addition of customizable characters.

Characters are a new and prominent part of the game experience

Lees small character team has funneled a ton of effort into creating absurd levels of detail for the now more prominent driver, by building out a catalog of racing suits, helmets, gloves, and more. The game has over 300 character designs, and about a week or more of work went into each. There are female and male models, and different silhouettes, or body types, for both, each of which took around five weeks to design.

Whats more, each one of the five discrete pieces that makes up a character (the helmet, the suit, etc.) has its own 4K asset. Zoom in on a helmet and youll see realistic scuffs and smudges on the visor and on some special helmets, signatures that look like they were just Sharpie-d on.

That might sound like a strange amount of attention spent on something you wont see much of while youre racing. But for a good chunk of Forza Motorsport 7, you actually will see your driver. Turn 10 has completely revamped its menu system to put an emphasis on showing off these characters. For example, the pre-race screen that shows up before you start a multiplayer race is now fashioned more like a loadout screen in a shooting game. There are menu options on the left, and your character stands swaying on the right, as if shes itching to hop in and drive.

Characters will also show up at the ends of races, podium-style, with the winner front and center looking proud, and the third-place finisher turned slightly away from the camera as if theyre already plotting revenge. Your characters look will even now represent you when you show up in friends games as drivatars, a feature introduced back in Forza 5.

Expect real race suits, old-timey outfits, and lots of inside jokes

Players will be able to choose between everything from real race suits with HANS devices, to old-timey outfits with leather helmets, to some even goofier additions from pop culture. (Expect a lot of era-specific inside jokes, Lee laughs. There's a lot of middle-aged people that work here.) With Forza featuring real racing series like IndyCar and NASCAR, you can also expect to see some more iconic suits as well, set to be announced later this summer.

While diehard fans are always going to want more cars and tracks, the game has long passed the point where it lacked in either of those departments. One thing it has been missing, though, is a way for players to represent themselves beyond the badge on a cars hood. Bringing characters front and center seems to be a reaction to that critique, a step towards making players care more about what, and how, they do in the game.

I think [the characters] might be the coolest opportunity for us to really kind of depart from Forzas in the past, Lee says, though he admits it wont be as deep as the character creation tools in other sports games. And it isnt as focused on story as something like Maddens new Longshot mode. But he thinks its a good foundation on which to build. I think it's really kind of a nod to where we want to go with the franchise, Lee explains. I feel like the car becomes a lot more personal, it's oh it belongs to somebody, it's something.

Looks are a huge part of Forza, but you dont play racing games on mute. Sound is crucial to an immersive experience, and so even Chase Combs, the games audio director, has spent the last two years trying to find ways to make Forza 7 grab the attention of your ears as much as your eyes. That starts with abandoning the sweeping cinematic score of Forza 6 in favor of a soundtrack you might mistake for whats found in modern-day beer commercials.

We ended up kind of going with something that felt a little more rooted in what you might hear in a garage, you know? That automotive spirit, Combs says.

But Combs and his team went further than just shifting genres. The music in the game (which you can customize with your own songs if youre not big fan of power chords) follows you as you hop around the different environments. It also dynamically adapts to those environments.

Go from the main menus to the garage to start tuning one of your cars, and suddenly the music sounds like its coming from a radio on the other side of the room. Hop into Forzavista mode, get in the car, and it will muffle. Jump over to the car selection menu, where your character is standing on a stage, and the music sounds like its coming through stadium speakers.

This follows through to the races, too. As you drive around each course, the games soundtrack will flash by you as you pass the tracks speakers.

A goal of mine, Combs says, was to make [the music] a character in the game, not just something that we lay on top of the game and people kind of turn off. I wanted to make it feel like it was actually seated in the environment.

The music actually sounds like its playing in a garage, or coming from the track speakers

Its a slick effect, but music is less than half the battle when it comes to the sound of a racing game. The cars need to sound as real as they look, too.

We think audio is critical component of that sense of speed and the kind of violent or exciting nature of racing. At times it's complete cacophony, tons of noise, rocks hitting the underbody of the car, he says. With race cars in particular, you have no noise insulation, and so it's just like this like giant resonating metal box.

To get all that right, Turn 10 struck up a partnership with Warner Brothers, which got them access to some of the more rare cars that appear in the game. We could come to them with a list of cars, and they could just go off and do all that, Combs says. Getting an actual race transmission has always been a challenge for us and we think that's a critical component of what a race car sounds like.

The end result is a game that sounds remarkably lifelike without all the different layers the screaming engines, squealing tires, doors slamming, and the rock soundtrack muddying each other up. You can hear the air being sucked into the engine at the same time that, say, your tires hit the gravel when you slip off the curbing of a track. Theres enough space in the mix for the click-thud of shifting gears, the raindrops hitting the windshield, and the spray coming off the tires to play together, not against each other.

Of course, Combs shows me all this in one of his small sound editing studios. So what about the rest of us schmucks playing through the tiny, drilled speaker holes on our flatscreens?

Thats a question Combs thinks a lot about, he says, especially when it comes to car crashes. There is an initial instinct when you're making collision sounds to try to just, like I'm gonna juice the bass. But we know that with those speakers, anything below 200 hertz or more, [they] just can't reproduce it, he says.

Combs has a switch on his desk that he can flip to funnel the sound through two desktop speakers, and that his team will often head out to one of the common areas and use the TVs there. That way, hopefully, their work can be heard no matter where you play. Good audio doesnt sell games, but Turn 10 hopes it will be just as engaging as the new characters, and as exciting as the cars themselves.

Adding customizable characters and doing tricky things with the sound might seem ancillary to the core Forza experience. But with Scorpio letting the team max out the graphics and the racing engine, these are the ways Turn 10 is trying to grow its customer base beyond the 4 million players it already claims.

How do you do that? Well, for one thing, this will be the first full Forza title available on PC. There, the company hopes to court the same increasingly diverse sets of players (namely: women and kids, but also competitors in the Forza Championship series) that it says has come to the game on Xbox in recent years. One way of doing that will be through sheer compatibility Turn 10 says it has tested everything from PlayStation DualShocks to pro racing wheels to Guitar Hero controllers, and all of them work with Forza 7 on PC.

And yes, Forza is more approachable these days. Its tempting to think of Horizon as the game for non-racers, and Motorsport for the diehards. But the number of driver assists and the freeing up of the campaign has made Motorsport almost as accessible to new players. There will be more of that in Forza Motorsport 7. One particular new option is a friction assist, which lets the player turn up or down how severely theyll be affected by driving off track.

Realism and punishing dont have to go together

For some players, if you've got licensed cars, and you've got realistic graphics, you are as realistic as is required, Greenawalt says. We keep pushing the physics system further and further and further, and I think it's understandable that people would go wow, if you do that then you've made it inaccessible. That's not been the case. Or, as Hartman puts it, realism and punishing don't have to go together.

In that way, Turn 10 is redefining realism. Or at the very least, widening the focus of the definition to include the more human aspects of being a racer: the way your body jostles in the seat, the sound and fury that comes with pushing a car to its limits, the silly stickers that can be plastered over a helmet. Forza Motorsport 7 is all about creating the feeling that youre a great driver whether or not the computers helping.

Thats why Greenawalt thinks pushing for unpolished realism through things like scuffed helmets and garage-speaker sound is so important. Turn 10 has already mastered making glossy racing games. To grow, it has to stop buffing out the dings that make things feel familiar and real. What makes cars more relatable is the human hands that made them, and yes, those create imperfections, he says. But it's the imperfections that really bring it to life.

Edited by Chris Plante and Casey Newton.

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Forza Motorsport 7 first look: the series refocuses on its drivers - The Verge

The leaders of two educational systems are the highest paid government officials in Burke County.

The News Herald periodically takes a look at how taxpayer money is used when it comes to local government salaries. We recently requested salaries of employees making at least $25,000 a year from Burke County, Burke County Public Schools, Western Piedmont Community College, the city of Morganton and the town of Valdese.

Of the five entities, it is Burke County Public Schools Superintendent Larry Putnam who has the highest salary at $199,053.21 a year. His salary includes a base salary, longevity pay and a state bonus, according to information obtained through a public records request. In addition, h e gets $12,000 a year travel stipend, according to his contract.

Putnam was hired as superintendent of the school system in 2012 and had a salary of $125,986. In the 2012 - 13 year he received approximately a 17 percent increase to his pay but his salary was prorated in 2011-12 because he was not in the position for the entire fiscal year, said Keith Lawson, finance director for the school system.

Putnam didnt receive a pay increase in 2013-14 but got a 7.1 percent increase the following fiscal year. In the 2015-16 year, Putnam received a 10.6 percent increase and a 13.1 percent increase this year, which brought his salary up to $199,053.21, according to information from the school system.

Lawson said the 7.1 percent increase in 2014-15 was the average certified salary increase legislated by the state. He said the maximum allowable increase was 18.5 percent but Putnam declined the maximum to alleviate any excessive financial burden on the school system.

Putnam works under a four-year contract, which says he should receive the same percentage statewide increase as any other educator.

Of the 18 western North Carolina school superintendent salaries, Putnams is second only to Buncombe County Superintendent Tony Baldwin, whose yearly salary is $208,716, according to Carolina Public Press, which did a story on regional education salaries in February.

Burke County Board of Education Chairman Randy Burns said Putnam is worth what he makes.

The guy has done a tremendous job, Burns said. My hats off to him.

Burns said Putnam was recognized as the 2017 Northwest Regional Education Service Alliance Superintendent of the Year in November and also finished his doctoral degree. Burns said Putnam has worked hard to get a welding program at Freedom High School and firefighter academies at Patton and Draughn high schools.

In addition, he was instrumental in bringing back an agricultural program to East Burke and Freedom high schools, Burns said.

The board is very appreciative of everything hes done, Burns said.

Burke County Public Schools Assistant Superintendent David Fonseca was hired in 2015-16 and makes around $100,000 less than Putnam. Fonsecas yearly salary is $96,420, according to the school system. However, Carolina Public Press reported his salary in February as $99,071.

Five other school system administrators have salaries in the $90,000s.

The other top salary in Burke County education is Michael Helmick, president of Western Piedmont Community College, who currently makes $178,116, according to information obtained through a public records request. Helmick was hired in August 2014.

Helmicks latest contract, dated June 14, 2016, says his current salary is $175,488 but can include additions to his salary through legislative action, which this past year was a 1.5 percent salary increase. That took his salary for the 2017-18 to $178,116, said Amy Elliott, director of marketing and development for WPCC.

In addition, Helmick gets an $800 travel allowance, a $100 monthly cellphone allowance and his monthly dues and other college-related expenses with a dining/social membership at Mimosa Hills Golf and Country Club.

Helmicks contract also gives him the usual benefits package of health insurance, retirement and days off.

Of the local government managers, Burke County Manager Bryan Steen is the highest paid with a yearly salary of $163,633.50. In addition to his salary, Steen also gets an in-county travel allowance and is reimbursed for travel outside of the county, as well as vacation, sick pay, health and retirement benefits, according to his contract.

His contract says after a yearly performance review he is entitled to any cost-of-living, longevity and/or merit pay increases as any other employee of Burke County.

Steen was hired at the end of 2010 and started the job in January 2011 at a salary of $110,000. His contract expires at the end of 2018.

Morganton City Manager Sally Sandy makes a yearly salary of $132,999.44, while Valdese Town Manager Seth Eckards salary is $84,000, according to their respective list of salaries.

To see an updated list of government salaries, visit http://www.morganton.com.

Sharon McBrayer is a staff writer and can be reached at smcbrayer@morganton.com or at 828-432-8946.

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Top salaries in Burke County - Morganton News Herald

New York Times

A Stately Summer Retreat in Darien Goes On the Market New York Times Among his many other additions were painted wall flourishes, classical sculptures and limestone floors. .... Up the main staircase to the second floor, a balcony lined with a wrought-iron balustrade looks down into the sitting room and out toward the ...

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A Stately Summer Retreat in Darien Goes On the Market - New York Times

With Denver's OTAs officially in the books, Chad Jensen reveals five takeaways. What have we learned about the 2017 Broncos?

The Denver Broncoswrapped up their 2017 OTAs on Thursday and will get the weekend off before returning next week to begin mandatory mini-camp. With so many new faces on both the coaching staff and the roster, these last three weeks of OTAs offered up the opportunity to get a feel for the shape of the 2017 Broncos.

What did we learn?

Arguably the biggest takeaway is the development of second-year quarterback Paxton Lynch. While its too early to get too carried away, Lynchs performance thus far has been highly encouraging.

Why join?

The former first-rounder received five days to work with the first team offense and he made the most of them. Many prognosticators wrote Lynch off long before the Broncos ever got back to practicing, but with OTAs in the books, Trevor Siemianwill enter mini-camp knowing that Lynch is poised to give him a true run for his money.

In another takeaway, for those concerned that the vaunted Broncos defense was going to take a step back with the exodus of defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, all signs point to this unit actually taking a big step forward under Joe Woods. The defense, as a group, has been the star of OTAs, although that doesnt come as much of a surprise.

Theyve made it exceedingly difficult for the Broncos offense to get in a groove, but that should only serve to make Mike McCoy's unitbetter in 2017. Due to their No. 1 pass defense, Denver finished in the top-5 last year as a unit.

But with the new additions in personnel and on the coaching side, dont be surprised if the Broncos return to their dominant form of 2015.

[FOR THE REMAINING TAKEAWAYS, WATCH THE FULL STORY IN THE VIDEO ABOVE]

Chad Jensen is the Publisher of Mile High Huddle. You can find him on Twitter@ChadNJensen.

Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter@MileHighHuddleand onFacebook.

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No citizens weighed in on King & Queen Public Schools six-year comprehensive plan at a public hearing Thursday.

The districts comprehensive plan serves as a road map for the districts efforts in curriculum expansion, hiring and capital projects through 2023.

Its a working document as we go along, assistant superintendent Alexis Swanson said. Our ultimate goal is for our students to achieve.

School Board members are expected to vote on the documents approval June 14.

Officials want to beef up the districts curriculum by creating high school credit courses for seventh graders. The district also hopes to expand career and technical training options at the high school, which is a key part of the overall vision for the district, Swanson said.

The district will establish a career and technical training program at King & Queen Central High School in time for the 2017-2018 academic year. The curriculum will initially offer an agricultural program, but additional programs like welding and masonry are expected to be added over time. The $200,000 project is funded as part of the county's fiscal year 2018 budget.

The plan calls for several additions to staff over the next six years. An English language teacher is sought as part of a drive to improve English as a second language education sometime during the period. Additional maintenance personnel are planned to be hired within the next couple years as well, according to the plan.

Officials want to keep pace with the district's long term capital improvement plan, which calls for $2.7 million in projects ranging from new school buses to playground and building repairs.

Officials drafted the plan with feedback from families and students gathered through surveys and district staff comments, Swanson said.

Jacobs can be reached by phone at 757-298-6007.

King & Queen Public Schools comprehensive plan

To view the comprehensive plan, visit kqps.net.

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King & Queen schools comprehensive plan gets quiet public hearing - Daily Press

Where it would go is up in the air. What it should look at is crystal clear the Mississippi River.

The La Crosse Center Board met with ISG/Gensler Architects on Wednesday afternoon to learn about early design concepts for the venues expansion that emerged from the visioning sessions with La Crosse residents and officials.

Although a specific concept was not chosen, board members stressed that any addition must capitalize on the river view to the west.

The two top things that were emphasizing is (needed) maintenance and ... having some type of additional space using the attribute of the west, Board Chairman Brent Smith said.

A close third was making the facility easier for patrons to navigate improving the buildings flow, he said. That, however, would appear to take a back seat to additions that could bring more revenue to the center, such as ballrooms, terraces and space for pre-event gathering.

Russell Gilchrist, a Gensler principal, presented eight raw design concepts, some of which he said were likely too fanciful but putting them on the table now would get them out of our system.

The concepts included second story additions on either the north, south or west sides. One concept was a west and south side addition. They all included ballrooms that ranged in size, including what could be one of the largest in Wisconsin.

Key to a decision down the line will be determining how much of the possible $42 million budget will be needed for necessary maintenance projects.

The Gensler team will return soon with estimates for those in coming weeks.

What we dont know at the moment is what part of our budget is going to go to kind of mending the roof and upgrading the air system, Gilchrist said. We dont know what we have left to be able to build the new pieces that generate the revenue.

This phase of the La Crosse Center project to settle on a concept will likely wrap up in about a month or so, Gilchrist said.

The boards goal is to begin construction next year and complete it by 2019, Smith said.

Concepts included the possibility of a west addition that extends over Front Street and has a terrace overlooking and with stair access to Riverside Park. A more modest idea had the addition going to the edge of the centers property.

Also floated was an addition to the north that either went as far as an overhang over the pathway that continues from Pearl Street to Riverside Park, or completely over it. It would not be designed to feel like a tunnel, however, Gilchrist said.

The materials and look of the addition was not part of this discussion. It focused on placement and amenities, such as a ballroom, offices, arena suites and terraces.

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River view crucial to La Crosse Center addition design - La Crosse Tribune

It was a little school with a big mission, a campus that served barely 200 students but one that ambitiously reached out to help those who lived near its historic Orlando campus.

So when Grand Avenue Primary Learning Centers closed Wednesday just weeks after celebrating its 90th birthday many students, parents and teachers were in tears.

The Grand, as some called it, had a homey, everyone-knows-your-name feel, thanks to its small size and long-serving faculty. Sitting alongside Parramore Avenue in one of the citys poorest neighborhoods, the public school made family services such as health care, food for the weekend and GED classes for parents a staple alongside academics.

This is an oasis in this community, said Rebecca Reitzel, who has taught at Grand Avenue for 32 years.

The Orange County school district decided to close Grand Avenue and several other schools as part of an effort to consolidate and replace small, aging campuses with newer, bigger and more modern ones.

Grand Avenue students will go to a new kindergarten-to-eighth-grade school under construction in Parramore, about 2 miles away at North Parramore Avenue and Amelia Street. The new school is to open in August, and some parents and teachers said there is plenty to recommend the new Academic Center for Excellence. The new school, for example, has a partnership with the Harris Rosen Foundation, which will provide free preschool and college scholarships to students.

But that didnt make it any easier saying goodbye to the old familiar place.

As soon as my daughter walked out of the classroom, she just cried and cried and cried, .parent Geisha Alvarez said about her 7-year-old on the last day of classes. She was really heartbroken.

Her older daughter, already attending another school, came back last week, too, to help teachers pack up their classrooms and to say goodbye.

That was a like a second home for us, added Alvarez, a mother of six who had three children at Grand Avenue this year. It was an amazing school. Everybody got together. Everyone knew everyones name.

Like other parents, Alvarez said she always felt welcome on campus. She took part in weekly parent breakfasts, volunteered regularly and worked to get her GED while her children were in class.

The bonding, the teachers, everything was pretty awesome.

At the new school, all of her children will be together, and that will be a plus, she said. Since 2007, Grand Avenue has served only youngsters in kindergarten through second grade, so Alvarezs two oldest were at another elementary school.

The goal a decade ago was to create a school that would focus on the needs of young students, particularly early literacy skills. The move to a primary learning center Grand Avenue had been a typical K-5 elementary came after the school earned a string of Ds and then an F on Floridas annual school report card. Once students in third through fifth grade moved off Grand Avenues campus, the school no longer received a state grade because it no longer had students old enough to take state exams.

Despite the changes, Grand Avenue remained a place that made everyone feel comfortable, said parent Khadijah Bagley, whose three children attended. Even though the neighborhood is bad, when you went to the school, you kind of had peace and quiet.

Her youngest finished at Grand Avenue last week and will go to the new school, but Bagley isnt excited. She is worried about the mix of kids, from preschoolers to teenagers, the distance from her home and what she fears will be lots of traffic around the campus. I dont understand why they would take the school away, she said.

Grand Avenue, in the Holden Heights neighborhood, opened in the 1926-27 school year. The original historic building, with a second-floor auditorium, remains. Additions from later decades, including an outdoor classroom, sit behind it and next to it.

The future of the Grand Avenue campus is not set, but it could be given to the city in exchange for property the city gave for construction of the new Parramore school, said Woody Rodriguez, the districts attorney. The city, however, has not yet decided if it wants the school site.

Grand Avenues small size had its downsides, making it hard to fund programs that are more affordable on a bigger scale, for example. But the size also seemed to benefit its students, who never got lost among classmates.

It was a huge advantage for our children, because so many staff members knew them, said Lino Rodriguez, who served as Grand Avenues principal for 13 years, moving to a new campus June 1.

Many of the schools students were from families who lived in poverty and moved frequently. The school, well supported by local businesses and colleges, was a constant in otherwise unstable lives for both youngsters and parents.

I knew my job was to build the best possible school to help this corner of the world, Rodriguez said late last week, as he and teachers packed up boxes of supplies, put tape on furniture to be moved to other locations and decided which historic items needed to be saved.

It was an emotional week, Rodriguez said.

But teachers, he added, were determined to finish strong and focus on academics until the end, leaving a legacy all the way through the last day.

For many of Grand Avenues teachers, working at the school became a mission, said Reitzel, who will teach first grade at the new K-8 school in August. Theres just a special vibe here.

Felicia Chambers agreed. She first came to Grand Avenue as a student intern from Florida A&M University and 23 years later was still teaching there, delighted with a school that focused on the whole child, she said.

Shell be moving to John Young Elementary School, where Rodriguez is the new principal.

Both will miss the little school on Grand Street.

The kids, the community, Chambers said. It was just like a second family.

lpostal@orlandosentinel.com 407-420-5273

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After 90 years serving kids and community, Grand Avenue school closes its doors - Orlando Sentinel

Gluten-free baked goods from Cherbourg Bakery of Columbus(Photo: Provided)

There are Cincinnatians who drive to Columbus to shop at Cherbourg Bakery for gluten-free and nut-free baked goods.

Their drive is going to get much shorter.

A second Cherbourg gluten- and nut-free bakery will open this summer in Over-the-Rhine at 1804 Race Street. That's across from Findlay Market, in the block being developed by Model Group and including the Epicurean Mercantile Company.This location will be called Cherbourg Cyprus and will feature Mediterranean flavors.

Cherbourg has been open in Bexley for the last six years. Geri Peacock started the bakery after finding she had celiac disease 10 years ago. That's a disease in which the body launches an auto-immune response to the protein in wheat and a few other grains, damaging itsability to absorbnutrients.

"At first, I just ate fish and yogurt," said Peacock. But she missed baked goods. "My grandmother's Hungarian, my mother's Italian. I had to have a cookie!"She experimented with one kind of flour substitute at a time until she hit on one that worked best: white rice flour and a little tapioca. She made her hobby a business, leaving her job as operations manager for a staffing company to open the bakery. It's named for Cherbourg, a city in France that her grandfather helped liberate in World War II.

"We try to be the cleanest gluten-free we can," she said. They do not use added ingredients that are often found in gluten-free products such as guar or xanthan gum." Peacock said they use organic butter from Ohio's Hartzler Dairy, and good eggs. They're nut-free because nut allergies seem to run in families with gluten sensitivities.

"So often someone says I can't eat gluten and my children can't eat nuts," she said. "They'll find us, and that makes us very happy."

Their menu includes very a popular double-lemon bar, made with lemon juice, pulp and zest. They have doughnuts, muffins and cookies. They also serve strata and quiche. Peacock said they're also known for their extreme friendliness.

In Cincinnati, additions inspired by Cyprus, which is half-Greek, half-Turkish, include shakshuka, a dish of eggs poached in tomatoes and peppers, Greek quiche in little boat-shaped pie crusts, Greek pastries like loukoumades and ricotta cookies, an Italian recipe from Peacock's mother.

The OTR store, at 1,300 square feet, will be twice the size of their Bexley location, with seating at booths and a long, communal table. They'll serve pour-over coffee from local coffee roaster Deeper Roots. Peacock thinks they'll be ready to open in early July. They've planned a pop-up event for June 29.www.cherbourgbakery.com

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ENID, Okla. Its taken nearly 7 years of planning, fundraising and construction, but Leonardos Childrens Museum is ready to unveil its new construction and renovations Saturday after completing a $6.2 million capital improvement project.

Saturday will include a short ceremony with local officials, business owners and families honoring the Enid communitys patience and support for the renovations.

Phase 1 of the renovation was finished and open to the public in April 2016, and included building utility updates and a Power Tower a two-story climbing exhibit educating children on Oklahomas role in powering the country.

Other Phase 1 additions included a Critter Clubhouse, Integris medical clinic, an infant and toddler sensory area and the Oklahoma Museum Network area, which is a revolving exhibit that currently features Red Dirt Dinos, a dinosaur exhibit featuring dinosaurs native to Oklahoma.

The new renovations being unveiled this weekend are part of Phase 2. A new education annex is attached in the building next to Leonardos and will be home to various art and science classes and Leonardos summer camp. The annex already has opened its doors for field trips and workshops.

What hasnt been seen by the public yet are the new exhibits on the second floor, which will be home to a child-sized community that represents the key features of Enid (and the) Northwest Oklahoma community, according to the Leonardos newsletter. The upstairs renovation features nine new exhibits.

These new exhibits include an agriculture exhibit, dentist and hearing office, Jumbos grocery store, Edward Jones Financial Center, Vance Air Force Base, a park, Oklahoma wind power exhibit and an art studio.

The launch celebration begins 10 a.m. Saturday outside the front of the museum.

Normal hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. General admission is $9 for everyone 2 years and older.

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COLORADO SPRINGS -

Plans to build a new Summit House on top of Pikes Peak are moving forward but it's going to cost millions more than expected.

Only two years ago, News 5 reported the estimated price tag on this project to be anywhere between $20 to $35 million.

But after they've redefined the scope of the project in 2017, that price tag now stands closer to $50 million.

"Literally, we're on top of the mountain," Jack Glavan, Manager of Pikes Peak America's Mountain said.

14,000 feet above sea level overlooking the city of Colorado Springs sits what will eventually become a state of the art Summit House.

"When we first started, that was five to six years ago, we didn't have a good scope of work that we've really redefined," Glavan said.

Glavan says the price tag has jumped nearly $30 million more than expected.

"It increased for several reasons," he said, "One, the time factor, so construction costs have increased. Second, we've redefined the scope so we really have a good idea of what we want in the building, what's not going to be on the building and the other factor has been the restoration of the rest of the Summit House."

To put it simply, building anything on top of a mountain will be an uphill battle.

Anticipating elevation problems for workers, a shorter five month construction window from June to October and digging into a much tougher foundation.

"We'll have to be going through boulders, through the Pikes Peak granite, as well as a permafrost layer so we have to ensure through stability through that foundation that we actually go down to bedrock," he said.

But published reports say the Anschutz Foundation, which owns the Broadmoor, is stepping in to help by making a substantial commitment to spearhead the project's fundraising campaign.

"I think the Anschutz Foundation or Mr. Anschutz is actually invested in our community and he wants our community to succeed and I think he's trying to do that," he said.

Once the money is raised and the building goes up, one of the most visited attractions in the region is expected to get busier.

"Certainly when you have something like the Summit House and a banner project, it's something that we're excited about and we're ready to tell the world and invite groups and special events and leisure travelers to experience that for themselves," Chelsy Offutt, Director of Communications for the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau said.

The bureau, anxious to start promoting the new additions.

"Just to see the momentum, is fantastic and we're at the ready to promote all of the additions that are happening up on Pikes Peak," Offutt said.

There has been an ongoing environmental assessment happening for the past year to determine where exactly it's safe to build on the mountain which is still in the works right now.

Once that is complete, then they can finish design plans.

At this point, the project is moving into its fundraising phase. The public fundraising campaign is set to kick off by the end of the summer.

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