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Good morning and welcome to Kid News.
I'm Tori. It's Monday, September 30th, 2024.
And we begin with the fur about to fly in Alaska.
Today begins that annual chunk fest known as Fat Bear Week.
All the big brown behemoths at Katmai National Park spent the summer stuffing their faces with salmon, packing on as many pounds as possible in preparation for their long winter sleep.
Hibernating bears lose about a third of their body weight while slumbering, which is why layering themselves in blubber before turning in is so important.
Now that the bears are at peak fatness, it's time to fire up those livestreams and get your pencils ready.
The March Madness -like brackets will be revealed this morning, giving you before and afters for the 12 beefiest bears.
You can check them out at explore .org slash Fat Bear Week.
Voting begins on Wednesday.
Helene lived up to the hype and the horror.
The storm nearly leveled the Big Bend town of Steinhachie when it crashed into Florida Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane.
Helene then spun more wet, windy, and unprecedented misery through Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, where it will go down as one of the worst storms in modern history.
How did it get so big, so fast?
Weather watchers point to sea surface temperatures that reached 89 degrees in the Gulf.
According to CBS News, the warm water acted like jet fuel and intensifying the storm.
Helene and climate change are the focus of a special Kid News episode this coming weekend.
Have a question you'd like us to answer?
Ask your parents or teacher to email us today at wehearyouatkidnews .org.
Include your first name and your town, and we might use your question in our interview.
It was only a matter of time.
The Chicago White Sox are now officially the sole owners of a record they don't want.
Most losses in a single baseball season since 1900.
Defeat number 121, the history -making drubbing, came on Friday when they fell to the Detroit Tigers.
On a positive note, the Sox followed that loss with two weekend wins to close out and perhaps forget 2024.
Understandably, the Sox social media team had a tough job rallying fans and eventually just got cheeky with posts like, final, the number of runs we scored was not greater than the number of runs they scored.
It should be easier next year, as the Daily Herald noted, there's nowhere to go but up.
Over the weekend, SpaceX launched a rescue flight to the International Space Station.
Sounds urgent, but it really wasn't.
NASA just needed to get a capsule up there to eventually bring home those two stranded starliner astronauts.
Butch Wilmore and Suny Williams have now been orbiting Earth for 100 days more than planned.
With this arrival, they can count on a ride back, but not until February.
If that update gives you chills in all the right ways, you might be a Space Kids Press Squad kid.
Last spring, we told you about the nationwide contest for students interested in space and journalism.
Eight kids won, including 11 -year -old Zoe, who wants others to know there's more to a career in the cosmos than riding on a rocket.
You could make technology design clothes for the astronauts, make different types of food, so there's actually like a lot of other special jobs in space than being just an astronaut.
Zoe and the other 10 will soon be immersed in all things space.
They'll visit Blue Origin's Rocket Park manufacturing facility, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and receive press training from a journalist.
Want to throw your hat in the ring for 2025?
Bookmark spacekids .global for announcements.
It may not seem like it, but singer Taylor Swift and basketball star Caitlin Clark have a lot in common, especially when it comes to economics.
United Airlines reported last week that ticket sales jumped 25 percent to destinations with a weekend Swift performance, and Southwest plans to add 10 more flights to Miami and New Orleans this fall to accommodate upcoming concerts.
In all, her era's tour is expected to generate $5 billion in consumer spending in the U .S.
alone. As for Caitlin, she played in 21 of the 24 WNBA broadcasts that topped 1 million viewers, according to Sportico.
The Morning Brew report's average attendance at home fever games was up 319 percent over last year, and when the fever played on the road, teams moved the matchup to NBA arenas to accommodate bigger crowds.
A recent fever mystics faceoff in Washington, D .C.
drew 20 ,711 fans, the largest crowd ever for a WNBA game.
Still to come, why some zoos are packing up their pandas while others try to fake them.
But first, we want to give a birthday shout out to soccer star Santiago Batye of Miami, Florida.
Santee, your family says you're a hard worker, kind, funny, accepting, and open -hearted, and they want to celebrate you for bringing so much joy into their lives and brightening their world every day.
We hope you have a wonderful birthday.
Now, today's Kid News Quiz.
What annual celebration begins this week in Katmai, Alaska?
Fat Bear Week. How warm were the waters in the path of Hurricane Helene?
89 degrees. Which baseball team now owns the record for worst season since 1900?
The Chicago White Sox.
How much consumer spending is Taylor Swift's eras tour expected to generate in the U .S.?
$5 billion. In today's Kid News Kicker, every zoo wants a giant panda or two, some, as we've reported, even resort to dying chow chow dogs to trick their visitors.
But here's a little -known fact.
Pandas are super expensive to keep, and that's why Finland is returning two of its black and white beauties eight years early.
The Atari Zoo spent $9 million to upgrade its facilities but can no longer afford the nearly $2 million it costs every year for their upkeep, which includes flying in bamboo their favorite food.
Lumi and Piri, the panda pair, will return to China together later this year.
Thanks again to the Bat -Yea family of Miami, Florida for sponsoring today's quiz.
Happy birthday to Santiago, hello to his big sister and fellow soccer star, Gabriela, and shout -outs to all their teachers and friends at Alexander Montessori School.
And a big shout -out to our other Kid News classrooms including Mrs.
Dudley's Wolves at Salina in Salina, Utah, Mrs.
Megan and her pandas at Alavista Middle School in Sylmar, California, and Mr.
B and his Bengals at Greensboro Day School in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Thanks for listening.
Remember to send us your climate change questions today at wehearyou at kidnews .org.
We'll see you back here for more Kid News tomorrow morning.
