It has been one year since the first 737 MAX 8 crash: A year ago today, Lion Air Flight JT610 crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia. The crash killed 189 people. The relatives of the victims have been through the wringer. The airline, Lion Air, tried to scam victims' relatives out of further payments by giving them a $90,000 payout but making them sign a form that caused them to forfeit other liability claims. Boeing has set up a $50 million assistance fund for victims' relatives from both crashes, the Indonesia one and the Ethiopia one that happened five months later.
Top Ukraine expert in the White House will testify: Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman from the US Army is a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. Vindman heard President Donald Trump's communications with Ukraine's leader, including the request to investigate one of Trump's political rivals. Vindman reported his concerns about the matter to superiors. Twice. He is testifying today and will be the first person who actually listened to the call to do so. You can read his whole statement here.
Boeing will speak to Congress today: Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg will be speaking before the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday and the House Transportation Committee on Wednesday. He is expected to admit that Boeing made mistakes and "got some things wrong" with the 737 MAX planes that killed 346 people.
Sea-Tac-bound flights keep getting hit by laser beams: Three jetliners last weekend were struck by laser beams as they approached Sea-Tac Airport. One green-and-white laser struck a plane and two blue lasers struck planes. If you're doing this bullshit, stop. Authorities are investigating.
Washington firefighters head to California: The fires are raging in the Golden State. Thirty-one fire departments or districts in Washington will be sending crews down to battle fires like the Kincaide fire in Sonoma County or the Getty Fire in Los Angeles. Washington has supplied firefighters to help California fight its fires for the last three years in a row. This is now a tradition, I guess. Ah, climate change, you rascal.
Prisoners are heading to fight the fires:
An inmate crew walks up Tigertail Road #GettyFire pic.twitter.com/LSmmOgCw6e
— Stefanie Dazio (@steffdaz) October 28, 2019
An update from Los Angeles: The Getty fire destroyed eight homes and damaged five in Brentwood, one of the priciest neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area. Thousands have been evacuated (including LeBron James and his family). While the elite evacuated, housekeepers and gardeners in LA still went to work in the area. The Los Angeles Times is offering free, non-paywalled fire coverage today. Throw them a buck or two for a subscription while you're at it.
The Kincaide fire, meanwhile: Winds died down on Monday around Sonoma County, but they're back and stronger today. The gusts, measuring as high as 65 miles per hour, could push the fire into new terrain. It's already spread across 75,000 acres. As of Monday, it was 15 percent contained.
A cold and windy morning in Washington: It's chilly and gusty up north today. Gusts should die down in the next few hours.
Peak wind gusts for the last 24 hours. Winds gusting up to 53 MPH so far overnight in Enumclaw with gusts into the mid 30s around North Bend and Bonney Lake. Locally windy conditions will continue for the next few hours then start to taper. #wawx pic.twitter.com/kzcXwDFKdD
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) October 29, 2019
More on the Aurora Bridge closure: Aurora Bridge southbound will be down a lane for at least several days as the state works to replace a section of a corroded beam that supports the road deck, according to the Seattle Times. It will likely take more than a week to fix, and crews may need to shut down another lane for their safety while they work.
Kurds played an essential role in tracking ISIS leader: The Kurds, America's allies, spied on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's villa, they stole his underwear and got samples of his blood, and without them al-Baghdadi might not be dead. Wait. Let's take a second to recognize the world's most heroic panty raid. The Kurds' essential role, confirmed by American officials, undercuts Trump's assertions that the United States got little to no help in al-Baghdadi's death. Trump's withdrawal of American troops from Syria threw a wrench in the operation.
Sinkhole swallows bus: A massive sinkhole opened up in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh on Monday. A Port Authority bus fell into it. The street will be closed for at least two weeks, but at least they got the bus out.
Great work by Allegheny Crane getting the bus out, now the hard work of restoring the street - have patience. pic.twitter.com/15OTA2EWNA
— Pittsburgh Mobility & Infrastructure (@PghDOMI) October 29, 2019
Game of Thrones writers canned: David Benioff and Dan Weiss, the writers who helmed all of our Westeros experience (for better or for worse, depending on who you ask), will no longer create their Star Wars trilogy. The deal between Benioff and Weiss was inked in February 2018, but it was announced yesterday that the pair would be stepping away from what is arguably a once-in-a-lifetime creative project to focus on their Netflix projects. Yeah, okay, what's the real story here?
The Popeyes chicken sandwich is back: Mark your calendars. The sandwich that caused a feeding frenzy and also a lawsuit against Popeyes for running out of the sandwich, will return to stores on November 3. The sandwich sold out of all stores just two weeks after its debut.
I love him:
Good luck finding a more adorable sight than this bear with a soccer ball and rolling around in the snow in a Colorado resident's backyard. https://t.co/FZu5CiaNfJ pic.twitter.com/JrqtOrqnjz
— ABC News (@ABC) October 29, 2019
Today's EverOut picks are: A show with living legend Jonathan Richman, ACT Theatre's production of Dracula, and the continuation of Seattle Restaurant Week. See more on our EverOut Things To Do calendar.