Good morning, and welcome to Kid News! I'm Tori. It's Thursday, September 15th, 2022,

and we begin with a big sigh of relief as a tentative deal to avoid a rail strike was

reached early this morning after 20 hours of talks. About 115,000 rail workers were threatening

to go on strike at midnight tonight if new contracts weren't reached with all 12 of the

industry's unions. The railroads had reached agreements with most, but two groups representing

engineers and conductors weren't happy with strict attendance rules and unpredictable schedules.

If a strike had happened, it would have had a huge impact on the country's supply chain,

affecting everything from gasoline to food to consumer goods. Even with this agreement,

Amtrak had canceled all of its long-distance routes yesterday as a precaution because some

commuter trains operate on tracks owned by one of the freight railroads. The agreement now

heads to union members for a vote, which could take a few days. There's a lot of talk in the

last week about the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, but did you know that among those doing the

talking was the official beekeeper at Buckingham Palace, who reportedly informed the monarch's

bees about her death. It sounds pretty silly, but apparently it's a standard practice that goes

back for centuries. Mark Norman, the author of Telling the Bees and Other Customs, told The New

York Times about the tradition, which holds that as members of the family, bee should be informed

of major life events, especially births and deaths. Beekeepers would knock on each hive,

deliver the news, and possibly cover the hive with a black cloth during a morning period. And in

the 18th and 19th centuries, it was believed that neglecting this act could lead to a variety of

misfortune, including the loss of the bees, or a failure to make honey. There is a battle going

on in Sydney, Australia between homeowners and cockatuz. The large whitebirds and the parrot family

have apparently figured out how to open the lids of trash bins. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute

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