The Stranger's morning news round-up. by Nathalie Graham Listen to the Evacuation Orders! Around 78,000 people live in the Skagit River's flood plain. While the rain has lessened, flood waters are still accumulating. The water leve l is rising in the river and testing the limits of a series of dikes and levees. The crest of the water should arrive in Mount Vernon this morning, a foot higher than normal. Despite officials issuing evacuation orders, many haven't left. Not to get all Led Zeppelin about it, but... some of that infrastructure is over 100 years old. The National Weather Service even issued a flash flood watch in the event the levees fail. Get outta there!  Won't Anyone Think of These 68 Miniature Donkeys? A Mount Vernon woman owns a farm of 68 miniature donkeys. They're only three-feet tall and would not fare well in a flood. She posted on Facebook asking her community for help getting all 68 donkeys out of harm's way. It is hard to evacuate with 68 miniature donkeys.  The Seattle Times does not currently have an update on if she found a solution and it is, frankly, killing me.  More to Come: The rain has stopped for now, but more is on the way. Another wet storm will hit Washington on Monday.   What's next for the Pacific Northwest? Unfortunately, another big rainstorm, fueled by an atmospheric river targeting British Columbia this weekend before it dips toward Washington by Monday. The orientation of the moisture plume will be different, putting new rivers in the crosshairs.[image or embed] — Anthony Edwards (@edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 10:46 AM   Stay Away from Snoqualmie Falls: All that rain water has made Snoqualmie Falls a roaring, thundering, spectacle. But the Snoqualmie Tribe wants people to stay away until it calms down. An Omen? You best start believing in ghost stories, Washington State Ferries. You're in one. An unlit "ghost boat" drifted through the Washington State Ferries' Mukilteo docking as a ferry was coming in. Nobody was hurt by the wayward vessel.             View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Washington State Ferries (@wastateferries)     Indiana Breaks with Trump: Republican state senators in Indiana broke with their party and voted down a new, redrawn congressional map that would win them more seats in the US House of Representatives. The 19 to 31 was a shocking rebuke of Donald Trump and his priorities. In recent weeks, Trump had put serious pressure (blasting them on social media) on these state senators to vote the way he wanted them to. While Trump failed here, the fact that the Indiana Senate even held a vote at all is evidence of the power Trump still holds. Many senators didn't want to discuss it since the redistricting came "outside the usual once-a-decade redistricting cycle," according to the New York Times.  Undetainable: A federal judge has ruled that immigration officials cannot detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the US citizen mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison earlier this year. The Trump administration begrudgingly brought Abrego Garcia back to the US in June, but arrested him on trafficking charges later in the summer. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to those charges. This newest ruling released Abrego Garcia from detention. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement agents cannot detain him again until a court conducts a hearing on the motion. He's a free man for now.  Time Magazine's Person of the Year Sucks: The coveted honor for 2025 went to... "The Architects of AI." To that I say: boo, hiss. The stock market agrees. On the same day of Time's announcement, AI-company Oracle's shares were down by 14 percent. Additionally, amid fear that the AI bubble is going to burst, "Chip makers Nvidia and AMD, as well as tech conglomerates Microsoft and Meta all fell Thursday," reports CNN. In hindsight, these gooners perfectly exemplify the year 2025.    I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork[image or embed] — Thor Benson (@thorbenson.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 8:00 PM   No Corruption Here: Trump signed an executive order that blocks any state laws that limit AI and prevents states from limiting its use. Don't worry, the executive order also establishes a federal task force with the sole purpose of fighting any state AI regulations. Hell is empty and the devils are here. Arkansas Sends Sesame Street Packing: The state is the first to sever ties with PBS after the eight-member Arkansas Educational Television Commission staffed entirely from governor appointees decided the annual $2.5 million membership dues were "not feasible.” (In previous years, the state has gotten about that much funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, but Trump took care of that.) No more Sesame Street or Antiques Roadshow for people in Arkansas. I'm sure they will become worse people because of this.  Self-Plug: Nothing to do tonight? How about you come to a science-themed improv show at the soon-to-be-dead Here-After in Belltown? Full disclosure: I'll be in it. Will I be funny? TBD. But, maybe you'll learn something from our scientist presenter who is an expert in landslides. Topical!  A Big Wall: French marine archaeologists (a real job!) found a massive undersea wall they think dates back to 5,000 BC and might have belonged to a sunken stone age city that was overtaken by rising seas. The 394-foot-long wall is off the coast of Brittany and is the biggest underwater construction ever found in the area. The marine archaeologists believe it was used as "a fish-trap or a dyke for protection against rising sea-levels." Hm, guess that didn't work out.  A Song for your Friday: I've finally gotten around to listening to Rosalía's new album "LUX." And it's a masterpiece. ...read more read less