The Stranger's morning news roundup. by Nathalie Graham Four schools on the chopping block: Seattle Public Schools announced the four elementary schools it will close next year to help patch the $100 million budget hole it's facing. The unlucky schools chosen due to under enrollment are North Beach, Sacajawea, Sanislo, and Stevens elementary schools. Students at those schools will transfer to other nearby elementary schools. Teachers from the closed schools should also transfer to those schools, but that's dependent on collective bargaining agreements. While four schools closing is a vast improvement over the 21 SPS originally said would need to close, the closures only yield $5 million in cost savings rather than the $30 million saved with the original plans.  Murder city: A 15-year-old boy in Fall City, Washington is accused of killing his whole family. The dead are Katheryn Humiston, 7; Joshua Humiston, 9; Benjamin Humiston, 13; and parents Sarah Humiston, 42, and Mark Humiston, 43. At 4:55 am on October 21, multiple 911 calls came in, including one from the 15-year-old boy who alleged his 13-year-old brother had shot his family and then killed himself. However, an 11-year-old girl escaped after being shot and ran for help. She said her 15-year-old brother was the shooter and that he was the only sibling who knew the combination to their father's gun safe. The 15-year-old allegedly tampered with the crime scene to make it look like his younger brother was the killer.  A gusty weekend: It'll be wet and windy this weekend with winds of up to 50 mph hitting parts of Western Washington. Say goodbye to those pretty leaves. Enjoy Friday during the day. It'll be nice and then all the stormy goodness will sweep in come evening.  West Seattle (finally) has a light rail plan: West Seattle light rail is no longer a distant dream. Yesterday, the Sound Transit Board approved the route—yes, if you're only now catching up, there wasn't even a route for the West Seattle extension. The Board voted for (drumroll please)... the preferred alternative! Here's the plan, which could cost up to $7 billion: West Seattle Junction segment: Medium Tunnel 41st Avenue Station West Entrance Station Option Delridge segment: Andover Street Station Lower Height South Alignment Option Duwamish Segment: South Crossing Alternative SODO segment: At-Grade Lander Access Station Option It's been five years in the making just to get this decided. Now that it's green-lit, Sound Transit can move into the design phase. Construction will not start until 2027. So, at this pace, West Seattle light rail should come by the time we're all dead from a climate change-induced disaster.  Charlamagne's media criticism: Charlamagne tha God laid into Anderson Cooper and CNN about their coverage of the presidential election. Hell yeah, bring the media criticism on the air.  Charlamagne: I feel like I heard more on this network about “is Kamala Harris Black” than I do about Trump being a fascistCooper: That’s bullshit Charlamagne: That’s bullshit to say you don’t have those conversations pic.twitter.com/145q2vRMMJ — Acyn (@Acyn) October 25, 2024 Trump denied us aid: Back in 2020, President Donald Trump ignored Gov. Jay Inslee's pleas for $37 million in federal disaster aid when wildfires burned 640,000 acres and demolished the town of Malden. At the time Inslee called for aid, he and Trump were at odds. Obviously. Inslee had critiqued Trump for his lackluster action on climate change and for his piss-poor response to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, meanwhile, called Inslee a "snake," a "nasty person," and—maybe most painful—a "failed presidential candidate." Still, you gotta give federal aid when disaster hits in your country. Trump did not. Inslee and the impacted places in Washington had to wait until Biden took office to receive that federal aid. Trump refused aid to California in 2018, and delayed aid to Georgia, Utah, and Maryland to punish political rivals. In other words, Trump did the exact thing he and Republicans are claiming Democrats are doing in responding to disasters in North Carolina and Florida, except that the Biden administration has actually sent federal aid.  More death in the Middle East: An Israel attack killed 38 people in Southern Gaza when strikes hit at least two residential buildings. Nine children from one family are among the dead. Meanwhile, medics say Israeli troops are raiding hospitals in the north. In Southern Lebanon, Israel killed three Lebanese journalists when strikes hit the guesthouses where journalists were known to be staying.  Biden says sorry: Biden will issue an apology Friday on behalf on the country for its role in forcing Indigenous children into boarding schools for over 150 years. At these schools, over 950 children died and the rest encountered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. The apology comes after Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold the post, launched an official investigation into the boarding schools and found "at least 18,000 children... were taken from their parents and forced to attend schools that sought to assimilate them into white society while federal and state authorities sought to dispossess tribal nations of their land," writes the Associated Press.  Salmon Bay for the babes: Seattle's sister team to Ballard FC has a name. Meet Salmon Bay FC. Women's semi-professional soccer is coming to Seattle, baby! I hope there's a team song about swimming upstream, spawning, and dying. THIS IS SALMON BAY FC.We are a women’s pre-professional soccer team in the heart of Ballard, and the sister team to Ballard FC. We build community around soccer by expanding opportunities for female athletes and creating accessible experiences for the whole community to enjoy. pic.twitter.com/66icu4f3BK — Salmon Bay FC (@SalmonBayFC) October 25, 2024 Hell country: A woman in Florida is campaigning for a ballot measure that would prevent the suffering she and her family endured due to the state's abortion restrictions. While five months pregnant, Deborah Dorbert learned the baby she was carrying would die due to underdeveloped kidneys and lungs. The best option for a baby doomed to die and for Dorbert's own health was to be pre-term induced. Abortion laws prohibited the procedure, so she was forced to carry her baby to term and give birth to him knowing he would die within minutes or hours of birth. The medical bills for her labor and her son's funeral cost $40,000. Read the account from Dorbert and her husband here.  Musk's long-distance bestie: Elon Musk has been in regular communication with Vladimir Putin since 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal. The report states that one time Putin asked Musk not to activate his Starlink satellite network over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. This news is alarming given Musk's businesses and their intertwining relationship with the US government. According to the New York Times, Musk's companies have almost 100 contracts with 17 federal agencies. NASA relies on SpaceX, and the government and US embassies use Starlink. Complicating things even more is Musk's recent Donald Trump bootlicking spree and the rumors that he'll win a spot in Trump's cabinet. If Musk is buddy-buddy with Putin, then US policy on Russia will probably shift in favor of Putin. (Fun fact: If you, like me, don't have a WSJ subscription, you can access it through the Seattle Public Library so long as you have a library card).  Bourgeois bulldog: "French bulldog dies on Alaska Airlines flight after being moved from first class to coach, lawsuit claims" Please, can we not: Ballots in the Phoenix area were damaged after someone lit a fire inside a United States Post Office collection mailbox. Approximately 20 electoral ballots were damaged. Just let people vote, damn.  A song for your Friday: Moody music for moody weather.