Libraries are for books and also when the city realize thousands live outside and the weather is fucking unbearable
Libraries are for books and also when the city realizes thousands live outside and the weather is fucking unbearable. Seattle Public Library

The pandemic is not over, but things look a little better: Okay, okay, don’t get too excited and certainly do not throw away those N95s, but the Seattle Times said that COVID-19 cases are sharply declining and the strain on hospitals is easing up. Yay!

Not all heroes wear capes: Librarians. They sort the shelves, recommend books, and apparently run emergency weather shelters??? Libraries are some of the only spaces in Seattle that don’t require you to spend money to be inside them. Because of this, these buildings have become de facto safe spaces during weather emergencies and the staff is made to fill roles they really didn’t sign up for. Crosscut has the story.

Sports news! What a day to be alive: the Seahawks won and the Super Bowl wasn’t on Valentine’s Eve.

This was boring, but you should know what happened: My apologies that I did not cover the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee, but basically, SDOT and SPU gave presentations about their winter response, Councilmember Tammy Morales advocated for the prioritization of sidewalks, and Councilmember Dan Strauss said he wants to extend the waiver on fees for restaurants to have outdoor seating. He wants to freeze outside of Hattie’s Hat for the rest of his life, or at least as long as he is on the council.

Froyo with a side of wage theft? Federal labor officials are not happy with frozen yogurt franchise Menchies and charged nine stores in Washington for splitting workers’ tips with managers, failing to pay an overtime rate and breaking child labor laws. Yikes. On the bright side, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered almost $100,000 in back wages and damages for 330 workers.

More optimistically: Workers at Crossroads Trading Co. in Seattle filed to unionize yesterday.

Pothole capital of America: We did it, y’all. A new report says Washington state has the worst potholes in the country. I don’t know if I whole-heartedly trust the source “Quote Wizard” that also sells insurance, but I do love to complain.

The right to bear arms and bare face: A woman didn’t want to wear a mask, so naturally she pulled a gun on a gas station clerk and threatened to kill him.

No shrooms for you: It is with great sadness that I present Rich Smith’s eulogy for the bill that would allow us to fix our brains with some shrooms. Also, we’ve used this picture a million times and now anytime I think of shrooms, my mind pictures this stock image, so send shitty iphone pictures of shrooms to break the association. Thanks.

See ya never, CNN: President of CNN Jeff Zucker resigned abruptly on Wednesday because he did not disclose a “consensual relationship with a key lieutenant” at the company. Zucker told staff in a memo that this relationship was questioned while the network investigated CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who got canned in December because he was involved in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s political affairs.

Women on the water: Personally, I love women and I love boats. I guess so does KOMO because it's presenting Women's Day at the Seattle Boat Show on Feb. 7. Sounds like a good combination to me!

Move the NFL to Tacoma: Urbanist opinion writer made the case that the newly-named Washington D.C. Commanders should pack up and move to Tacoma. Seems like a shot in the dark, but I thought the team was in Washington State until I Googled it, so I’m down.

An important tweet: