The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Ashley Nerbovig The coldest of takes: Shocker! If you offer people housing instead of just sweeping them, sometimes you might actually be able to help people escape the cycle of homelessness! The Seattle Times wrote about Washington's Encampment Resolution Program, a strategy where the state offers subsidized housing to the people they're sweeping from highways. Of the 18 encampments the state closed in King County under this program since 2022, 90 percent of the people moved inside, which amounts to about 420 people, and 74 percent have remained housed. Now, of course, the program's funding is potentially in danger. Seattle sees less success with its strategy of declaring an encampment an "obstruction" and offering people an overcrowded shelter that may not meet their needs.  Scarecrow stays open another two years: The beloved video store, Scarecrow Video, raised more than $600,000 from community donations since announcing earlier this year that it was in danger of shutting down. The money should be enough to keep it in business for another two years, according to KING 5. More people keep turning up to rent videos as well. Scarecrow Executive Director Kate Barr said she hopes that the store manages to raise a total of $1.8 million to stay in business longer than just the two years.  Speaking of Scarecrow: If you haven't checked out our Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge series yet, you should. Every October, Scarecrow compiles a list of some scary stuff for the Halloween season. This year, in solidarity with the video store, our staff has started watching the movies and sharing daily recommendations. Pissing off the trash pandas: A woman in Washington had to call the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office after the family of raccoons she'd started feeding became aggressive and turned up in a horde of 50-100 hungry little beasts, according to the Associated Press. Great follow-up to If You Give a Moose a Muffin. The video is incredible. They must talk to each other.  she knows what she did https://t.co/DsH6kwZJVs — Brett Hamil (@BrettHamil) October 10, 2024 Ok, what's up with the Northern Lights? We're supposed to be able to see them again tonight, and now the National Weather Service has a Northern Lights forecast page. I'm not going to look up whats going on with them, and neither should you. But can we just talk about it? Is it that we've always been able to see them from here, or ... Okay, I couldn't help it, I just went and looked it up. Apparently the sun's magnetic field reaches its peak every 11 years, and that makes the Northern Lights more visible. Is that OK? Are we OK?  Oh, speaking of the Weather Service: High of 60 today, mostly sunny, the perfect Fall day.  Consent Decree might end: The US Department of Justice predicts an end to federal oversight of the Seattle Police Department in the next few months, according to the Seattle Times. If true, that would release the City from spending literally hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on monitoring fees and return more power over the police department to the people. On the other hand, it could potentially mean that the one thing semi keeping the City barely paying lip service to accountability finally ends. Federal Judge James Robart said he would not lift the decree unless the City made serious progress to implement accountability measures in the new Seattle Police Officers Guild contract. The City made some measly improvements to accountability in the new contract, but not much. The City's scheduled to appear before Robart next week to plead their case.  Hurricane Milton makes landfall: Milton hit Florida last night, causing more than two million homes to lose power and ravaging the coastal state as a Category 3 storm, according to the Associated Press. At least four people died, and the storm caused more than 100 tornados.   The right-wing really loses it: These kooks. Marjorie Taylor Greene is out here claiming the government controls the weather, according to the Associated Press. President Joe Biden's trying to clamp down on this, but honestly how do you stop people from believing what they want to believe? Meanwhile, Biden's administration has prepared millions of meals and liters of water as well as prepped military search and rescue teams in anticipation of the storm. Inflation deflates: The Consumer Price Index shows inflation has dropped to its lowest level since 2021. Good for the economy! Benefits everybody! Remember that? It's at three percent now, which is close to the Federal Reserve's ideal inflation rate of two percent. Good job everybody on going so broke again that we can't all just be at home, ordering food from restaurants, and eagerly searching out suppliers of different-colored masks.  Israel and Iran: Israel's security cabinet meets Thursday evening to figure out their response to a missile attack from Iran on October 1, according to the Washington Post. Israel has continued to pepper Iran with airstrikes.  My computer speakers continue to be totally fucked: Someone let me know if this song is any good.