Hope just cant stay away.
Hope just can't stay away. CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

Jeff Bezos just realized he's the richest man in the world: Jeff has bought himself a $165 million, nine-acre Beverly Hills mansion. It has its own nine-hole golf course. He's also been forking over big bucks for art. I wonder what Bezos's art collection says about him. Anyway. He's forking over millions regularly now in his post-marriage life and not even making a dent in his net worth, as anyone who understands math could tell you. He's sold nearly $4.1 billion worth of Amazon shares in the past 11 days.

Second biggest local news company files for bankruptcy: McClatchy Co. is hoping to shed its debt and "reposition for a digital future." A bleak statement. McClatchy will no longer be family-controlled, and ownership will likely transfer to hedge fund Chatham Asset Management LLC. There are 30 McClatchy newsrooms in 14 states. There will be no immediate impact to these businesses or their employees.

Washington is feeling the Bern: Bernie Sanders hasn't even been to Washington State during his 2020 campaign. Yet Washingtonians have sent the Sanders campaign more $2 million in donations. That's more than Elizabeth Warren ($1.6 million) and Pete Buttigieg ($1.5 million). To put that even more into perspective, the Seattle Times found that Sanders had 56,369 contributors for an average donation of $37 each and Warren had 25,157 for $63 each.

Booking motel rooms for coronavirus cases: Apparently, sending potentially infectious people to motels to isolate them is a common practice for Seattle-King County Public Health as well as for other health departments around the state and country. For the 17 people who have been tested for coronavirus in the state, six were put into motels while they awaited test results. Officials aren't disclosing which motels are used. All tests came back negative.

Time for your daily coronavirus update: China has announced 254 new virus deaths. There are also 15,152 new cases. That puts the total number of infected people around 59,804 and the total deaths at 1,367. There are 15 cases in the United States.

Rain is on the way: There will be scattered showers throughout the day.

Shooting suspects come home: The two men suspected of injuring seven people and killing one in the downtown shooting last month were arrested and charged in Las Vegas, where they fled after the incident. Now they have been extradited back to King County and will be arraigned on February 19.

Shockingly, this does not count for the carpool lane: A state trooper pulled over a speeder on I-5. They had a stuffed dinosaur strapped into their front seat to get past HOV lane restrictions.

Australia's bushfires are all contained: After intense drought and fire scourged the country, Australia is reveling in a deluge of rain. Sydney's dams are at their highest point in two years. There are still 24 fires burning, but none are out of control thanks to nature's firefighters (raindrops). As with everything, there's a catch. And this time, it's a big fat flooding risk.

No rest for the wicked: Man who repeatedly tossed handfuls of nails onto Oregon City streets gets 30 days in jail.

Build a wall: To keep Kristi D and her delicacy that's just pasta smothered in gravy from ever setting foot in Italy.

Golden retriever loses gracefully: Daniel the golden retriever was one of the first of his breed to be a contender for best in show in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show held this week. But a standard poodle snatched the title. Daniel, his owners said, is dealing with loss well. He recently "dug himself a nice hole in the backyard and decided to lie in it." Me too, Daniel.

A weird specification: Former Papa John's CEO John Schnatter tried to set the record straight about a crazy claim he made in November (while he was very sweaty). The ousted pizza king said in an interview that he "had over 40 pizzas in the last 30 days" to verify that Papa John's pizza wasn't the same anymore. Now he's trying to clarify that he never said he ate those pizzas. He said he had those pizzas. When he says "had," it means he either ate part of it or… inspected it… he said. Or maybe he's having them in other ways. I don't want to know, okay! He was too sweaty to be talking about pizza in any other way than just eating pizza.

John Kelly dishes on Trump: The former White House chief of staff did a little tell-all at Drew University during a 75-minute Q&A. He basically talked about how Trump is crazy and how he never supported him. AND YET you did, John. YOU DID. It feels a whole lot like desperate face-saving. The Atlantic has it all here.

Have these Tennessee lawmakers ever met a woman in their lives? Republicans think tampons need to be taxed to keep women from buying too many.

Hope Hicks is headed back to the White House: She'll be a counselor to the president and working closely with the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Since she left in 2018, Hicks has been [drumroll please] the executive vice president and chief communications officer for the Fox Corporation.

Today's best entertainment options are: The Capitol Hill Art Walk, a Janet Jackson Revue with local burlesque artists, and the Robyn-themed dance party Dancing on My Own. See more on our EverOut Things To Do calendar.