The Stranger's morning news round-up. by Nathalie Graham Oregon wins beautiful bat competition yet again: On Halloween, the Bureau of Land Management crowned a hoary bat named “Hoary Potter” as the winner of the annual bat beauty competition. This is the third year in a row a bat from Oregon has won the title. Beautiful, sexy bats down there.  Another Boeing offer on the table: Boeing and its striking machinists are still doing their will-they-won't-they not-right-contract dance. Boeing wants to end this strike, which allegedly costs the aerospace company a cool $50 million a day, but it's not clear if they've done enough to make that happen. The newest contract proposal is the most attractive yet. It bumps up pay 38% over four years and includes other benefits that bring the starting pay for the average machinist up to $119,309. The machinists' union is calling for its members to support the deal. But the plan still doesn't include a reinstate pension benefit plan, which the union lost in a contentious vote a decade ago. For some machinists, it's "no pension, no planes." Union members will vote on Monday.  Soggy city: It's wet. It will remain wet for at least today. Will it be wet tomorrow? Well, yes, probably.  Seems, uh, bad: Japan's Mount Fuji is bare and snowless. This is the first time snow hasn't fallen on the Japanese peak in October in 130 years. Record-keeping for snow on Mount Fuji began 130 years ago.  Mount Fuji experienced its first snowless October in 130 years. pic.twitter.com/hycej5L82R — Nathaniel St. Clair (@NatStClair) October 30, 2024 ICYMI: My new column is out. This time I went looking for the Screaming Well in Renton. Never heard of it? Me either!  Not great on the job front: In October, US employers only added 12,000 jobs. In September, that number was 223,000. Economists say hurricanes and strikes are to blame for the paltry new employment number.  Rob Saka's main budget priority: District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka's main priority in the Seattle city budget is to set aside and freeze $2 million in funds so he can tweak an already-complete RapidRide H project outside his kid's preschool, the Refugee & Immigrant Family Center (RIFC) Bilingual Preschool. Saka hates the hardened median strip along Delridge Way SW that prohibits left turns into the preschool near the SW Holly St right-of-way. He wants that median—which exists so drivers don't turn left into a protected bike lane—gone. Because of that median, he can't turn left into the school or exit the school where the median is. He compared the median to Donald Trump's border wall. The median "has only re-traumatized many members of the RIFC community. It is triggering for many of our members," Saka said. Did this guy only run for office so he could get this traffic pet peeve of his removed?  Here is CM Rob Saka just now defending his proposal to put a hold on $2 million in funding to restore left turns across a protected bike lane along Delridge Way.Budget Chair Dan Strauss notes this was Saka's #1 budget priority for 2025 so he'll let it stand despite his… pic.twitter.com/z72xJB3rfc — Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley) October 30, 2024 Tech CEO charged with rape: Dan Price is the Seattle tech guy and former CEO of Gravity Payments who first became noteworthy when he raised his employee's minimum salaries to $70,000. Price's proclivity for being a scumbag tainted the rising star of his splashy progressive social media presence. A Riverside County, CA court officially charged Price with rape on Thursday for a 2021 incident when he allegedly assaulted his unconscious then-girlfriend. Price will be arraigned in January.  Social media star seized by authorities: Online celebrity, Peanut, a squirrel living with a 34-year-old man in rural New York was seized by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) after the department received complaints about the squirrel's safety. The DEC also took a raccoon named Fred from the house. Peanut's owner of seven years is distraught. "To the group of people who called DEC, there’s a special place in hell for you," he said.  Spanish flood death toll rises: Historic flash floods in Spain killed at least 205 people, the majority of whom lived in the Valencia region of the country. The damage from the floods are catastrophic. Tucker Carlson met a demon: No, he didn't meet it while looking in the mirror! Ha. Good one, right? No, but seriously, the ex-Fox News blowhard claimed he had a "direct experience" with a demon in his bed. The demon mauled him, Tucker said, and he still has the scars of the scratches.  Apostrophe drama: Joe Biden spoke candidly to a group of Latino activists after Trump's Madison Square Garden rally's ugliness turned toward Puerto Rico. At the rally, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage." In Biden's call, he said, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American." However, potentially to save face from calling those ghouls "garbage," the White House's official transcript wrote Biden's statement as "supporter's" and not "supporters," implying he actually meant Hinchcliffe's remarks were garbage and not that an entire group of Americans were garbage. This is dumb. Let this lame duck call racists garbage.  What we should be focusing on: Journalist Michael Wolff released a snippet of audio showcasing how tight Jeffrey Epstein and Trump's relationship was. He apparently has hours and hours of audio from Epstein demonstrating their deep relationship. Strange that this is the first we're hearing it.  Michael Wolff, the explosive chronicler of Donald Trump’s four years in the White House, has released what he says is a recording of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019, discussing Trump’s then White House team in detail.https://t.co/Uvt8g75KQY pic.twitter.com/VyM3GGWVFF — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 31, 2024 Another preventable death: A pregnant Texas teenager died from sepsis after doctors failed to medically abort her fetus for fear of violating state abortion bans. She went to the emergency room three times and, refused necessary care, she died.  Have you voted yet? Hurry up and do it. And, don't think about how the Republicans are already gearing up to contest the election if Trump loses. Let's just make sure he loses and deal with the sore losers afterwards.  Something for your Friday: Are you marinating in election anxiety? Feel like there's no hope? And, on top of that, your back hurts? Do this for a brief reprieve.