‘Tis the season for trend stories, and Santa‘s struggle against H1N1 could be the gift that keeps giving for local news channels. Some mall Santas’ unions have asked that their members be put on the federal government’s priority list for swine flu vaccine thanks to their frequent contact with children, but it hasn’t happened yet. As one Wisconsin channel put it, “as opposed to coming down the chimney flue, it’s coming down with swine flu.”

So it’s the day before Halloween, and you don’t have a costume. What to do? Fortunately, Mediaite has come up with some costume suggestions for you. Pulled straight from the headlines, these are guaranteed to be hits:

Is Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan trying to get into politics or perhaps auditioning for a leadership role in a right-wing conspiracy group? Because judging by the current political temperature his latest blog post might make for a quick entree into the world of birthers and death panelists. The singer thinks that swine flu may actually be part of some Barack Obama conspiracy.

Has Matt Drudge stumbled upon the Mayan code for the rumored upcoming 2012 apocalypse? A quick click on this morning’s Drudge Report might lead you to think so. (Plus, if there was such a code, Drudge no doubt, would be an early adopter). Alas, no.

It happened to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It may have happened to Anderson Cooper.

After a summer of Celebrity Swine Flu Watch, Mediaite has learned Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett is the latest reporter to contract the H1N1 virus, or Swine Flu.

Though the Power Grid is often a lesson in maintaining influence over time (see: Anna Wintour), due to its automated algorithm, movement in the ranks can often be traced directly to a piece of news or media event. And it’s not the movement that is interesting in and of itself, but the reasons behind it.

This week, Erin Andrews is a perfect example.

It’s no secret that we’re obsessed with competition and we get our kicks from big movement on the Power Grid. Recently malady has been responsible for movement in the rankings: just look at Dr. Sanjay Gupta and New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin . But who were the other big movers and shakers, and why the fluctuation? Find out inside.

Yesterday we reported how CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joined a growing and star-studded flu victims list, including MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, and most recently, goth rocker Marilyn Manson, who shared his diagnosis Monday through a MySpace blog post. During last night’s episode of AC360, host Anderson Cooper raised the Swine Flu bar by realizing that he had the H1N1 virus live on air!

This morning, CNN chief medical correspondent (and onetime candidate for Surgeon General) Dr. Sanjay Gupta revealed that he had swine flu, joining a star-studded victims list, including MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, Harry Potter‘s Rupert Grint and most recently, goth rocker Marilyn Manson. So celebrities get sick — where’s the news?

In case you haven’t already been informed by your television via the countless commercials for half priced Old Navy denim or extra durable Five Star notebooks, it’s back to school time kids! And along with the annual advertisements from companies trying to hawk everything from butter to laundry detergent with a “back to school slant,” looks like the H1N1 flu virus has also got a sneaky publicist on its side.

It’s been a rainy summer in New York, but so far there’s been a drought of news this August. Aside from the health care debate and the bad behavior it’s spawned, it’s slim pickins. According to The Guardian, even “silly stories” about sharks, dubious surveys, and animals with prosthetic limbs have been in short supply.

Want to protect yourself from Swine Flu? A deep-cleansing enema might be you best option, well, if you get your health advice from Arianna Huffington’s network of friends/bloggers. This is just one piece of HuffPo health advice marched out by Salon’s Vital Signs columnist Rahul K. Parikh in a post called “The Huffington Post is crazy about your health.” No, literally, they’re crazy.