The Stranger's morning news round-up. by Nathalie Graham Gushy and gusty: The rain is back. So is the wind. An atmospheric river will pelt Washington with more wind and rain on Friday, potentially undoing much of the work to get the lights on in homes blacked out by the bomb cyclone and making life more miserable for those still without lights and heat.  If your power is still out: I'm sorry. More than 185,000 people—most of whom are in the Seattle area—are still powerless. It should be back by Saturday afternoon. If it's not, don't shoot the messenger.  Power's out, school's out: School districts in Issaquah, Bellevue, and Kent have canceled school for the third day in a row. Schools in Lake Washington, Tahoma, and Mercer Island districts are also closed.  On the subject of school closures: Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones has canceled upcoming hearings on the potential cost-saving plan to close four Seattle elementary schools permanently. It's unclear what will happen next or when.  Budget passes: The Seattle City Council officially voted to approve the city's 2025-2026 budget 8-1 on Thursday. Council Member Tammy Morales was the sole "no" vote. The budget expands "public safety" funds and homeless encampment removal teams. It allocates $2 million to remove a curb so Council Member Rob Saka can turn left into a West Seattle pre-school. Among the budget's many cuts, tenant services such as legal assistance for people at risk of eviction suffered. After the vote, the council voted against Council Member Cathy Moore's capital gains tax proposal.  Today, for the first time during my tenure on Council, I voted no on our biennial budget.To the thousands who showed up and made your voice heard, thank you and I’m sorry this budget may not reflect your vision for this city.My full remarks here: https://t.co/wlm5KeWPxq — Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (@CMTammyMorales) November 22, 2024 Goodbye Gaetz: Rep. Matt Gaetz couldn't handle the heat from everyone looking into his fraternization with young sex workers so he withdrew himself from consideration for Attorney General. It's unclear what his political future looks like since he, very confidently, resigned from Congress after Trump announced his AG nomination. With Gaetz gone, Trump announced a different sycophant to assume the role. Trump picked former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. Of course, Bondi is a longtime Trump loyalist. Among other acts of obsequiousness, Bondi served as one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial. Groveling toad Sen. Lindsay Graham pretty much nutted over the announcement saying Bondi should be confirmed quickly and that this pick was a “grand slam, touchdown, hole in one, ace, hat trick, slam dunk, Olympic gold medal pick."  That's not Santa: A West Seattle couple heard a large crash around 3 am on Friday morning. An older woman had driven her car onto the roof of their Fauntleroy neighborhood house.  Driver crashes car onto roof of West Seattle home https://t.co/9697WV7aWq — KIRO 7 (@KIRO7Seattle) November 22, 2024 Probably not an omen: A rare deep sea-dwelling oar fish washed up on an Encinitas, California beach. The fish has a "long eel-like body, gaping mouth, and bright red dorsal fins." It is also a harbinger of doom in Japanese myth. In the months before Japan's 2011 earthquake, dozens of oarfish washed up on the island country's beaches. So many people wondered whether the oarfish, or "doomsday" fish, caused, or foretold, the quake that scientists had to publish a study dispelling any link between the events. In recent months, California has seen three doomsday fish wash up on its shores. Scientists are stoked to research the rare fish. But are we ignoring a sign from the gods or...?  'Doomsday fish' washed ashore in California, but what does that mean? https://t.co/Rfx0Yct2V5 — Los Angeles Times (@latimes) November 21, 2024 Is this what the doomsday fish is warning us about? Trump's pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, wrote in a book in 2020 that if Democrats won the election he believed there would be a "national divorce" where the police and military "will be forced to make a choice" in "some form of civil war." According to the Guardian, Hegseth also compelled conservatives to “mock, humiliate, intimidate, and crush our leftist opponents” and to "attack first." Cool, cool, yeah let's give this guy control of the military, that should be good for everyone.  Hate when this happens: A patient believed to be under the influence of drugs at a California hospital went to the bathroom and climbed into the ceiling. When he didn't come out, police checked the ceiling tiles. They found the man "on top of a large HVAC unit and wedged under a steel beam in complete darkness." He was stuck. It took an hour and $5,000 in damages to get him out of there. He was arrested.  Man who faked his own death is found and "safe:" Wisconsin man Ryan Borgwardt, 45, faked his own death back in August and allegedly fled to Uzbekistan to be with a woman he was communicating with online. Borgwardt left behind a wife and three children. To fake his death, Borgwardt went kayaking and then left a capsized kayak, his phone, and his car behind as he fled on a stashed e-bike. He eventually boarded a plane in Canada. Authorities got a hold of Borgwardt and urged him to make a video saying he was safe. He did so, but he didn't say where he was in the video or that he would return home to Wisconsin and his family. A song for your Friday: If you've ever wondered what a soul version of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" sounds like, here you go. The legendary Al Green released this cover earlier this week.