Good morning and welcome to Kid News.
I'm Kim.
Today is Wednesday, October 29th, 2025.
And we begin with Hurricane Melissa exiting Cuba and taking aim at the Bahamas, just one day after slamming into Jamaica with historic force.
The storm arrived near the town of New Hope yesterday afternoon as a Category 5, with sustained winds of 185 miles an hour and gusts of 220.
It was the second strongest Atlantic storm to make landfall and the worst by far to hit Jamaica in the 174 years since record-keeping began.
Forecasters predicted a storm surge of up to 13 feet, 30 to 40 inches of rain, mudslides and widespread power and communication failures.
It'll likely take days, maybe weeks, to document the damage, but the expectation is that it will be catastrophic.
As Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the Associated Press, there is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5.
We'll be right back, particularly for the people in the poorest countries.
It will not lead to humanity's demise.
People will be able to live and thrive in most places on earth for the foreseeable future.
He then doubled down and said focusing on short-term emissions goals instead of disease and hunger is a mistake.
According to the New York Times, Mr Gates knew his high-profile pivot would be polarizing, telling reporters if you think climate is not important, you won't agree with the memo.
If you think climate is the only cause and apocalyptic, you won't agree with the memo either.
It's still early days, very early days, but a frontrunner has emerged among Democrats eyeing the White House in 2028.
And it's not either of the two we mentioned on Monday.
According to a new poll by the University of New Hampshire, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leads the pack with 19 support.
That's four points ahead of California Governor Gavin Newsom's 15 and eight points ahead of former Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris's 11.
The only other Democrat with double digits is New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
New Hampshire is always the first in the nation to hold its primaries, and its tiny town of Dixville Notch, is the first to cast ballots on Election Day.
Game four of the World Series was last night, and if it was anything like game three, it was epic.
Monday night's matchup went 18 innings and took six hours 49 minutes before the Dodgers' Freddie Freeman broke the tie with a walk-off homer.
We'll be right back. and to hold not one but two seventh-inning stretches.
The action in Game 4 was too late for our recording, but the Dodgers headed into it, leading the series two games to one over the Blue Jays.
We're still two days from Halloween and four weeks from Thanksgiving, and already there's talk of Christmas.
Rockefeller Center head gardener, Eric Paz, has now gone public with his choice for the tree that will ultimately form the backdrop of holiday festivities in New York City.
It's an 11-ton, 75-foot Norway spruce donated by a family in upstate Rensselaer County.
As soon as I saw it, Mr. Paz said in a statement, I knew it was perfect.
The stately spruce will be cut down next week and arrive in the Big Apple on November 8th, where it will be decorated with more than 50000 multicolored LED lights.
And a 900-pound Crystal Swarovski star in time for the big reveal on December 3rd.
In mid-January, after all the celebrating has wrapped, it'll be turned into lumber for Habitat for Humanity.
Still to come, a hole in one times two?
The unheard of feat of a college stick.
But first, today's Kid News quiz.
How high were the winds of Hurricane Melissa when it made landfall in Jamaica?
185 miles an hour with gusts to 220.
What high-profile climate activist says?
It's time to lose the doom and gloom language surrounding global warming.
Bill Gates.
According to the University of New Hampshire, who is the current frontrunner among Democrats for the presidency in 2028?
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Who is the only baseball player to ever hit multiple walk-off World Series home runs?
Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers.
In today's Kid News Kicker, what's harder than hitting one hole in one?
Hitting two on the same hole in the same day.
College golfer Neil Phillips, a sophomore on Sewanee's Division III golf team, was playing in the Chick-fil-A Invitational last week in Rome Georgia, when he drained his ball with a single swing on the eighth hole.
When he returned a few hours later for his second round, it was deja vu all over again.
Neal told the Golf Channel that he was in disbelief and gave credit to two good swings and some good luck.
So, how rare was it?
The National Hole-in-One Registry puts the odds of making two holes-in-one on the same round at 67 million to one.
Neil didn't make them in the same round, but he made them on the same hole on the same day, which Golfcom says potentially makes his feat even more unlikely.
It wasn't the same ball, however.
People don't have to know that, Neil joked to Golf Digest.
It was the same ball, same ball.
It's shout-out time for our terrific teachers.
Mrs. Avila and her blue and gold dual-language eagles at Parkview in El Monte, California.
Ms.
Hanford's timber wolves at White Pine in Boise, Idaho.
Ms.
Hamaker's Tigers at Tyler Run in Powell, Ohio.
And Ms.
Johnson and her Toros at Tucson Unified Virtual Academy in Tucson, Arizona.
Thanks for listening.
If you need a holiday gift for that Kid News fan in your house, check out our swag store online at kidnewsorg.
Have a great day and we'll see you back here for more Kid News tomorrow morning.
