The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Vivian McCall It’s never been more fall than it is right now: Brace yourselves for an atmospheric river and possible mountain snow this week. There’s a chance of rain today before 11 am, followed by a chance of showers and possible thunderstorms into the evening. Rain is likely tomorrow morning, less likely Friday before 5 pm, and pretty much a given Friday night through Monday. So much for my silly little idea to camp in mid-October. Graphic with the forecasted rain totals today through the weekend. System over the weekend could bring significant rainfall to the area. 2024 rain total at Seattle-Tacoma airport 19.61", 5.29" below normal. 19.61" thru Oct. 15th is the 3rd driest total in last 30 years. #wawx pic.twitter.com/1YZBPR4CuU — NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) October 16, 2024 Navy jet crashes near Mount Rainier: Two crew members are missing after their US Navy EA-18G Growler crashed east of the mountain during a training flight around 3:30 pm yesterday, according to the Navy. The Navy dispatched a search team to examine the crash and find the crew. The Navy has not released their names or said why the plane crashed. There’s sure to be more on this story later.  C’mon, Boeing: The strike is in its second month, your last public offer totally sucked, and now you're planning to cut costs while your factories sit idle? There’s a way to end this, Boeing: Face the workers. Union members and elected officials, including US Sen. Maria Cantwell and US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, said as much at a Tuesday night meeting. Machinists say they will keep striking until Boeing meets their demands. There are no mediated bargaining sessions on the calendar right now. Striking Machinists at #Boeing want their pension back. Workers gathered for a rally Tuesday as the strike enters its second month. The Machinists want Boeing to come back to the table and increase its offer for wages and retirement benefits. pic.twitter.com/CUA7Qvx1B6 — Lauren Rosenblatt (@LRosenblatt_) October 16, 2024 Gloria Bornstein died: The artist, whose artwork dots parks and public spaces across the region, was 87. You may know her by “Neototems,” bronze whales breaching the grass at Seattle Center.  #ArtAtTheCenter NEOTOTEMS. Gloria Bornstein, 1995. Two bronze whales, a mother and her calf, appear to swim through the lawn bordering Seattle Center's International Fountain. pic.twitter.com/uLKHveuz40 — Seattle Center (@seattlecenter) September 21, 2020 The Stranger's November 5, 2024 General Election endorsements are out: King County Elections is mailing ballots to voters at this very moment! Once you get yours, you know what to do: Get together with a bunch of your friends on this cozy weekend, read all 18,000 words of the Stranger Election Control Board's endorsements aloud to one another—you can do popcorn style, or you can just let the performers in the group have it—and then fill out your bubbles accordingly. Don't have that kind of time? Only have three friends and none of them know each other? That's why we invented the cheat sheet. Happy voting!  Rabbits are terrorizing a few blocks in Spokane: As I type, a “horde” is surely tearing up a neighborhood called Hillyard! The Spokesman-Review reports that we don’t exactly know how many rabbits there are or where they came from, but a roving group of 25 to 75 rabbits are eating everything and excreting “so much poop that it leaves the impression of purposefully placed gravel.” The running neighborhood theory is that a pair given as Easter presents seven or eight years ago were abandoned and left to do what rabbits do. Their black, white, and sandy fur typical of domestic rabbits supports this hypothesis. Whatever their origin story, neighbors are reportedly screaming at people who feed the rabbits, and one woman had to ask a father and his two children to leave her property one night after discovering them chasing rabbits with enormous fishing nets in her yard. Oh, and there's a horde of 25-75 rabbits taking over Spokane's Hillyard neighborhood. No one knows where they came from."They’ve lined the sidewalks of East Queen Avenue with so much poop." From @newsynicholas https://t.co/a0Gqzf0M5n — Alexandra (Alex) Duggan (@dugganreports) October 14, 2024 ICYMI: We’re in a housing crisis, the rent is too high, and Mayor Bruce Harrell wants to snip at the social safety net with his comically large pair of scissors labeled “One Seattle,” which, as Hannah explains, could make you homeless. Mayor out here leading with compassion https://t.co/Qe4sVXSenz — Ashley Nerbovig (@AshleyNerbovig) October 15, 2024 Georgia shatters early voting record: More than 328,000 people cast ballots on the first day of early voting, toppling the 2020 record of 136,000. Gabe Sterling of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office tweeted that they were running out of adjectives for the spectacular turnout. I can think of many, most of which a government agency would reject as inappropriate. While I support everyone’s constitutional right to vote, in this swing state, we can only hope this is a really good sign and not a really bad one because… Donald Trump wants to punish his “evil” enemies: Not hyperbole. He’s been saying this kind of thing for a while, but during an interview Sunday, he suggested Democrats were the “evil” enemy from within who would cause such chaos on election day that the National Guard may need to be called in. I know it’s hard for some of us to really feel anything anymore when he talks like this, but that’s an insane, unprecedented thing for a former president to say. US turns out pockets, shrugs: The US is out of money to lend to disaster survivors, and Congress is out until after Election Day. So that's real bad timing and bad luck for all the small businesses and homeowners trying to rebuild after hurricanes Helene and Milton. Speaker Mike Johnson has said repeatedly that he has no plan to call back lawmakers early. He tossed responsibility back to President Joe Biden, who has encouraged people to keep submitting applications. Speaking of Helene: Nearly 100 people are still missing in North Carolina. Victims of Maine’s deadliest shooting may sue the army: Lawyers for 100 survivors and relatives of victims say if the US Army knew reservist Andrew Card had slipped into a state of paranoia, delusion, and homicidal ideation, then it had a duty to intervene before he shot and killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine last year. It had ample opportunity, according to an independent state commission, and an autopsy report found that his brain had been profoundly damaged by blasts from routine, supposedly safe grenade training exercises. The Army will have half a year to respond before the lawyers file suit. US threatens military aid to Israel: Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 people and displaced more than a million. The US has done more to financially support that slaughter and misery than to stop it. But Tuesday, the US military said it would cut off aid in 30 days unless Israel allows more humanitarian supplies into Gaza, which are apparently at their lowest-ever level since the war began. Though, even at the peak, aid was not enough. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that it would listen to the opinion of the US but make a final decision on Israel’s national interests. Will the threat stop Netanyahu? His war wages on. An Israeli air attack on a government building in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh killed five people, including its mayor. An Israeli siege on northern Gaza continues into a 12th day, which human rights groups say has spiraled into a “horrifying level of atrocity,” according to Al Jazeera. Secret tomb with 12 skeletons found in Jordan’s Petra: Very, very cool guys. You all must be super smart archeologists to have uncovered these secret skeletons in this undisturbed tomb, but have you seen any movie? Put them back.