The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham RIP, local news king: Patrick Sand, the co-founder of the West Seattle blog, died suddenly Thursday. Tracy Record, his wife and the other blog co-cofounder, announced his death in a moving tribute. He called for help at 8 am Thursday morning and Record found him on the bathroom floor. When paramedics arrived, despite performing CPR, they could not revive him. His death is likely the result of cardiovascular disease. He was 67. Sand and Record did nearly everything for the West Seattle Blog themselves, together. Sand took photos, covered breaking news, and sold ads. Record did most of the writing and reporting. Give the West Seattle Blog some love today—and always.  Bird flu comes to Washington: Four agricultural workers in Washington might have come down with bird flu. Working at an egg farm in Franklin County that recently euthanized 800,000 chickens for testing positive for bird flu, the workers spent their time around infected birds. If they indeed have H5N1, Washington will be the sixth state to log human bird flu infections. So far, humans have only contracted the virus from infected animals. Human-to-human spread is unheard of at the moment. Let's hope it remains that way.  Navy aviators dead: Five days after the Navy Growler crashed and went missing east of Mount Rainier during a training exercise, officials announced the two operators of the plane died. Gov. Jay Inslee green-lit a Navy request to have the National Guard assist in recovering the bodies. Capitol Hill shooting: At 1:30 am on Saturday morning at the 1400 block of 11th Avenue, which is around the hub of Capitol Hill night life, a 25-year-old woman was shot multiple times in the chest. She died from her injuries. Then, around 2:15 am the next day, shots were fired near the memorial of the dead woman. The shooting injured a 25-year-old woman and a 29-year-old. Police have no leads. These shootings occurred blocks away from SPD's East Precinct.  The weather: I keep getting the weather slightly wrong, and I feel like I fail you every time. Look, I don't know what's going to happen any more than your phone does. Trust the robots, don't trust me. But, if I had to guess from my quick research (googling "Seattle weather today"), it's going to rain.  You want fries with that? Donald Trump was slinging fries in the drive-thru line at the Feasterville, Pennsylvania McDonald's. The location closed for Trump's visit. Trump's campaign and the McDonald's franchise owner hand-picked all of the drive-thru customers who the secret service then screened. No one ordered anything. Trump handed them whatever he wanted, musing about how clean the fries were as he did.  he's so jazzed that nobody touches the french fries, you can tell that's something that's been at the back of his mind for decades https://t.co/nPg5RALVRT — ascendant lower-middle (@cIass_man) October 21, 2024 Minimum wage increase? Now that he's been on the fry cook front lines, does Trump think the minimum wage should go up? After working the fryer at McDonald’s, I asked Trump if he thinks the minimum wage should be raised: “Well I think this. These people work hard. They’re great. And I just saw something… a process that’s beautiful,” Trump said. pic.twitter.com/pg2synNA59 — Olivia Rinaldi (@olivialarinaldi) October 20, 2024 Free birth control: The White House proposed a plan Monday to make private health insurance fully cover over-the-counter, no-prescription-required birth control methods and contraceptives. That means, if passed, condoms, birth control pills, and Plan B emergency contraceptive would be fully covered by health insurance. The rule would not impact people on Medicaid because why remove cost burdens on the most cost burdened of Americans?  Well, this can't be good: We depend on Earth's natural systems to somewhat balance our carbon emissions. The soils, oceans, forests, and more naturally absorb millions of tons of carbon per year. Except, last year, the carbon sinks absorbed almost no carbon. Because of how warming has already fucked with the planet—think hotter-than-ever oceans, glaciers melting at faster and faster paces, disrupted currents—natural systems are breaking down. “We’re seeing cracks in the resilience of the Earth’s systems..." Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said according The Guardian. "Nature has so far balanced our abuse. This is coming to an end." None of the models predicting the devastation of climate change have factored in the failure of naturally occurring carbon sinks. Without storms, wild fires, and droughts, maybe the land-based carbon sinks can recover. We sorely need them to. Of course, change only comes with action, and we as a society do not seem keen on mass behavioral change. Okay, kinda fun: The Dodgers and the Yankees, long-standing rivals, will face each other in the World Series for the first time in 43 years.  Boeing strike could come to an end: After a months-long work stoppage, Boeing and striking machinists may have come to a deal. If passed, the contract would add $1 billion to Boeing's wage bills across four years. Good. Pay your workers. The new deal that 33,000 union workers will vote on come Wednesday includes "a 35% pay hike over four years, a $7,000 ratification bonus, a reinstated incentive plan and enhanced contributions to workers' 401(k) retirement plans, including a one-time $5,000 contribution plus up to 12% in employer contributions." The deal isn't quite what workers asked for—it still falls short of the 40% wage increase they demanded.  Roswell under water: Record rainfall in Roswell, New Mexico over the weekend left hundreds of people in need of rescue and killed two people after flash floods swept into the town.  Residents in Roswell, NM, were forced onto the roof of a convention center after record-breaking rainfall triggered severe flooding Saturday night. Over 5.78 inches of rain fell, shattering their all-time daily rain record from 1901. https://t.co/AeLboGjYoB pic.twitter.com/oKgDdvE6GZ — AccuWeather (@accuweather) October 21, 2024 Where my hug at? If you're asking that question in New Zealand's Dunedin airport, then clearly you haven't seen the signs. The airport restricted hug times at drop-off zones to three minutes as a way to streamline traffic. The signs read: "Max hug time 3 minutes. For fonder farewells please use the car park."  A song for your Monday: