Some Starbucks locations to reopen today: "Starbucks will welcome customers in some of its stores starting Monday under guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities," KIRO reports. But seating areas will be closed, and customers are encouraged to order on an app ahead of time. "A majority of stores will continue drive-thru only service," King 5 reports.
Not all Starbucks employees are thrilled about stores reopening: "I think it's just requiring us to put our lives in danger for something as silly as just coffee," a shift supervisor at a Starbucks in New Hampshire told Business Insider, "and the people who create these rules have the luxury of being able to work from home and not be in close proximity of hundreds of people a day."
And casinos? "Tribal governments weighing when, and how much, to reopen their casinos, which generate more than $2 billion a year in revenues," Seattle Times reports.
And retailers? J. Crew just became the first national chain retailer to file for bankruptcy since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. "J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus are expected to follow."
And bookstores? The Stranger talked to four indie book shops in Seattle on Friday.
And hospitals? "We're bleeding money," and industry insider tells Seattle Times, which adds that budget shortfalls "could swell to $900 million for March and April in the state."
Beware fake nurses: The AP reports that in Kennewick, "Authorities are searching for two women suspected of dressing up as nurses and stealing packages that had been delivered to people’s front porches."
12,600 pounds of potatoes, and 9,500 pounds of onions: "As the coronavirus shut down restaurants, shops, and processing plants across the country, farmers have a hard time moving product," King 5 reports. So someone on Facebook organized a caravan to pick up crops that would have gone to waste, and now non-profit in Woodinville called Farmer Frog is "boxing, sorting and delivering the produce to families in need, and to food banks."
Justin Huertas writes a new song for you! Like Ben Gibbard and Major Scales before him, the musician and actor Justin Huertas composed an original song for this morning's Message to the City.
Are you going stir crazy? Maybe you need a creative outlet? Make a short video for our Confinement Film Fest.
Do you have your ticket for the next Silent Reading Party? It's on Wednesday. Get your ticket here. If you don't know what the reading party is, start here.
We got a letter to the editor this morning. And for pure entertainment value, I just thought I'd share it. No idea why he sent this to us, or even what it has to do with us, but here's the entire message:
I grew up in Seattle—or more accurately was forced to spend most of my childhood in America's most overrated city, and the first time I left my stupid idiot father nagged me and badgered me into moving back- and I'm just writing to tell you how happy I am to BE OUT OF YOUR RAIN-SOAKED SHIT HOLE!!!
Fuck you and FUCK SHIT-ATTLE!
Thanks for sharing?
Also... uhh, "rain-soaked shit hole"? You grew up here and that's all you've got? Not very creative, man. Also, I've got to say: The weather's been pretty nice lately.
