Image filed under "things that would prevent measles outbreak" Credit: Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images
Image filed under things that would prevent measles outbreak
Image filed under “things that would prevent measles outbreak” Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images

A grim portent for the free press: BuzzFeed is going to lay off 15 percent of its staff, or, around 200 employees. The move is meant to trim costs. There’s not much more information at the moment. It’s wild though because BuzzFeed raked in over $300 million in revenue in 2018 which is a 15 percent increase from 2017, according to the New York Times.

Upstream takes a hiatus: Paul Allen’s Pioneer Square music fest isn’t happening in 2019. It’s only been around for two years, but it’s already time for Upstream to rest. The festival announced in a press release today that it would be “taking a break.” Upstream may grace Pioneer Square again in the future. Rest easy, Upstream, we hardly knew ye.

Heads up, measles are afoot: There are 23 cases of measles in Clark County. The outbreak there is mostly hitting unvaccinated children (vaccinate your kids, idiots!!!) but a 50-something-year-old man in King County has contracted the disease.

Coast Guard food bank opens up in Marysville: Depressingly, Coast Guards, the only branch of the U.S. armed forces to work without pay, need help. Because, you know, they’re working without pay during the government shutdown. People can donate goods to the Marysville food pantry for Coast Guards and their families this week. It will open to families this Saturday.

Look out gig economy, Scout is coming for your jobs: Amazon is testing out its new delivery bot who is, admittedly, very cute. Scout, the robot who will deliver your Prime deals to your front step, is being tested in unspecified Snohomish County neighborhoods.

And now to Ken with the weather:

But in reality: This is the real weather. I would like more rain, please.

Legislation is threatening the livelihoods of Washington hairdressers: A new bill in the Washington State Senate would forbid salons from renting out booths to independent stylists. This is bad for small businesses, for women, and for hairdressers trying to make a living. Why is this being backed by Democrat heavy-hitters?

Edmonds becomes Washington’s first designated creative district: Edmonds applied to be considered a designated creative district as part of 2017 legislation. It’s the first city in the state to be designated as such. As part of the application, Edmonds determined that its arts and culture sector “generated an estimated revenue of $19.6 million in revenue to the local economy, generated 440 full-time jobs and $17 million in labor income,” according to Crosscut.

More Edgar Martinez content:

More bad journalism job news: Gannett, a media holding company with stakes in many local newspapers, laid off a bunch of reporters across the country. All of the layoffs occurred in small regional markets. Local news continues to disappear. Cherish your newspapers, people.

Verizon isn’t safe from layoffs either: Verzion Media Group is laying off 7 percent of its staff. About 800 employees are impacted by the layoffs.

Pelosi stands firm against Trump, won’t allow him to deliver the State of the Union: Nancy Pelosi told Trump that she won’t invite him to the House to deliver the State of the Union until the government is fully open. Trump is going to look for another venue. Meanwhile:

Um: Yikes. We are tempting fate.

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Nathalie Graham covers anything she finds fun, weird, or interesting. You can find a lot of that in her column, Play Date. Her work has also appeared around town in The Seattle Times, GeekWire, and the...