Seattle sacrilege. Credit: JSTONE / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Seattle sacrilege.
Seattle sacrilege. JSTONE / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Hunger strikes at Washington prison: The strike at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, a prison in Connell, Franklin County, with approximately 2,065 inmates is concerned mostly about the quality of the food. For years, inmates have been served cold breakfasts. They won’t stand for it anymore. The strikes started on Feb. 1. It’s still going. The move to cold breakfasts a couple of years ago was a financial decision for four Washington state prisons. Gov. Inslee has included money—$2.78 million—in his operating budget for the return of hot breakfasts.

Forbidden love in the outdoor retail industry: Jerry Stritzke, president and CEO of REI, resigned today. He didn’t disclose a “personal and consensual relationship” he was having with the head of another outdoor retailing company. His last day is March 15. Wow. I wonder which one it was? Patagonia? The North Face? Arcteryx? The drama! The intrigue! Fight for what you love, Jerry!

It’s Election Day! Did you vote? Or, were you too snowed-in to vote? That’s no excuse. Here are some loopholes if your mail carrier is unable to uh, carry your mail in time.

Bill Gates doesn’t know where Ezell’s is: GeekWire interviewed Bill Gates recently and took the time to ask him about that viral photo of him waiting in line at the Wallingford Dick’s Drive-In. They talked Dick’s and Gates’s other favorite Seattle fast food, Burgermaster. It also came up that not only has Gates never been to Ezell’s but that he didn’t know where one was!

Thirteen sheriffs in Washington are refusing to uphold the law: They’ve got their khakis in a twist over the newly-passed gun control laws and many have defiantly stated that they won’t enforce it. Currently, the only part of the set of laws—you remember I-1631, yes?—that has gone into effect is the purchasing age of semiautomatic rifles has been raised from 18 to 21. The rest of the law, stuff like enhanced background checks and safe storage, goes into effect on July 1. Attorney General Bob Ferguson has penned a letter to these non-law-abiding sheriffs that says they may be held liable for not doing their jobs. He also says he is confident that the laws are constitutional.

Farewell, snow: We hardly new ‘ye. That’s not true. I feel very well-acquainted with this snow. I don’t think I’m super sad to see it go. Anyway, as we wrap up this historic snowfall, careful on the roads still, slush is dangerous. King County Metro will run 90 percent of its bus lines tomorrow. That’s better than this scene yesterday:

The weather:

BuzzFeed News employees are planning on unionizing: In January, 220 BuzzFeed employees lost their jobs with little to no notice. Today, employees in the company’s newsrooms announced that they planned to form a union. The statement began with “It’s not all fun and memes”—no matter how terrible and cringe-worthy that is, they still deserve to unionize. The statement went on to say that this has been in-the-works for several months because of “unfair pay disparities, mismanaged pivots and layoffs, weak benefits, skyrocketing health insurance costs, diversity and more,” according to the New York Times.

Upskirting is now a criminal offense in U.K.: It wasn’t illegal to take a picture under someone’s clothing—the act commonly known as “upskirting”—until a writer and activist started an online petition after getting upskirted at a music festival. Today, the new law passed in parliament. It’s illegal now.

Mexico’s drug kingpin, El Chapo, has been found guilty in U.S. Court: Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was arrested in 2016 after an escape from a Mexico prison. He was extradited to the U.S. in 2017. Today, a federal court in New York found him guilty on 10 counts, including distributing cocaine and heroin. He hasn’t been charged yet but could face life in prison.

Happy Black History Month from your friends at Esquire: We don’t need this cover story.

Donald Trump, notorious for his racist, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic comments calls for Rep. Ilhan Omar to resign: Omar tweeted out some comments that critics called anti-Semitic. Omar alleged that secret Israeli money was influencing U.S. foreign policy. She has since apologized for those comments. However, Trump is latching on and calling for her resignation. Trump has never apologized for any of the many insensitive and ignorant comments he has made.

The hottest gift of North Korea’s Lunar New Year celebration is crystal meth: The drug is seen in North Korea as an extreme boost of energy, like a Red Bull, according to the New York Times. There is a misunderstanding about the drug’s effects and its addictive qualities. Many citizens use it as a substitute for medicine. The North Korean government denies that its citizens use the drug, or any drugs.

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...