Good morning and welcome to Kid News. I'm Kim. Today is Thursday, November 21st, 2024.

And we begin with the first in a series of powerful pre-holiday storms blasting the West Coast.

Hurricane force winds of up to 77 miles per hour pummeled Washington State, Oregon, and parts of Canada from a system that ramped up so fast it's now

being called a once-in-a-decade bomb cyclone.

According to the National Weather Service, more than a half million homes and businesses

were left without power as of midday yesterday, and the threat is not over.

As the winds die down, an atmospheric river is expected to pick up, dumping huge amounts

of rain all over the western states that will continue the rest of this week and possibly

into next. Weather was not an issue at the mostly successful launch of SpaceX's latest

test flight. Its Starship vehicle blasted off as planned

from the company's South Texas launch site at 4 p.m. Central Time Tuesday afternoon, with founder

Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump looking on. Plans to repeat last month's booster catch

using a pair of giant mechanical chopsticks were called off at the last

minute, with engineers opting instead for a smoky splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

SpaceX did not provide a reason for the change, according to the New York Times, other than to say

the safety of the teams and the public and the pad itself are paramount. The rocket's upper stage traveled

for about an hour and achieved an important objective as engineers reignited an engine in space

for the first time. The Big Apple just gave the green light to a highly controversial

First in the nation plan to limit traffic.

On Monday, New York City approved congestion pricing. That means starting January 5th,

drivers who enter midtown or below during peak times of day will have to fork over $9,

in addition to whatever they spend on bridges and tunnels. The goal is to reduce the number of vehicles on already crowded streets

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