Good morning, and welcome to Kid News! I'm Kim, today is Friday, August 20, 2021, and

we begin with what could be the perfect antidote to all the not-so-great news in the headlines

these days. A ginormous rubber duck that stands taller than a house and has the word

joy written on it, swam in under the cover of darkness, and is now bobbing around the

waters near the town of Belfast, Maine. For a while, the stunt was a real who-done it,

but a group called the anonymous Benequackers just owned up. It's posted to social that

joy is just a bit of foul play to remind us that despite our differences, we all have

a lot in common. So far, the two-and-a-half story floating bird has been a hit with the locals,

and no one's in a hurry to see it go. Even the harbor master there says it's not posing

a navigational hazard for boats, so she sees no need to send joy on its way.

The majors had a field of dreams moment last week, now it's time for the best 10-12-year-old

players in the country to have theirs. Not in Iowa, but in Williamsport, Pennsylvania,

home to the Little League World Series every August, and a place ESPN refers to around

this time of year as the happiest town in America. Like everything these days, though,

the event has had to pivot for COVID. Last year, it was canceled entirely. This year,

there are no international teams, the annual Grand Slam parade was called off, and crowds

will be limited. What hasn't changed? The lure of Lema Day. Homemade cardboard sleds

are everywhere as players and guests do their best to live up to tradition by sliding

down the stadium's Grass Hill. First pitch was yesterday, the champion gets crowned on

the 29th. Washington State just up the ante in its fight against COVID. Jay Inzley is

now the first governor in the nation to require all public and private school teachers, staff

and volunteers to get fully vaccinated by October. Testing instead of the shot will not

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