We dont think theyre watching the State of the Union.
We don't think they're watching the State of the Union. Photo by Michael DeMocker/Getty Images

Housekeeping: A big congrats to The Stranger's Charles Mudede! Mutiny Pictures acquired the North American rights to his film Thin Skin starring Ahamefule and Ijeoma Oluo, reports Deadline this morning.

One Seattle, One United States: At 6 PM Seattle-time tonight (just after the sun sets), Biden will deliver his first State of the Union. (While it may have felt like he gave a State of the Union last year, that was technically just an address to the nation.) Biden is expected to tell Putin he's gonna pay. Then he'll try to reassure Americans they won't have to pay so much for groceries, someday. He'll also give a little sizzle reel of his highlights in office, and then he'll announce a "unity agenda" to "end cancer as we know it." That would be nice.

Not in attendance: Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, who tested positive for coronavirus this morning. She's fully vaccinated and boosted and did not report experiencing strong symptoms. Three other lawmakers (Sen. Alex Padilla of California, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Rep. Pete Aguilar of California) also just tested positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile: Congress drops mask mandate just ahead of Biden's State of the Union address

It's been six days since Russia invaded Ukraine: The New York Times reports that Russia seems to be targeting cities with increasingly powerful weapons. The nation's major cities and its capital of Kyiv continue to resist, however an incoming 40-mile-long convoy of Russian tanks—20 miles norths of Kyiv—bodes poorly for the city's defenders. Today, Russian missiles struck a Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv.

As expected, a Douglas County Superior Court judge threw out the capital gains tax, the Seattle Times reports. And as expected, the judge ruled that the capital gains tax was an income tax and not an excise tax, as the law’s supporters have argued, and runs afoul of the “uniformity clause” in the state’s constitution. And also as expected, Attorney General Bob Ferguson plans to appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court, which will ultimately decide the fate of a law designed to balance the state’s unfair tax code.

The production company Electric Entertainment was hailed for creating more than 200 jobs by choosing to shoot Leverage and The Librarians in Portland, but according to multiple women production workers, the power differentials between local crew and out-of-town talent created a uniquely challenging environment of workplace sexual harassment, in at least one case, assault, and then retaliation. Chase Hutchinson* has the deep-dive investigative report over at our sister paper, The Portland Mercury.

*There are two Chases who write for us: One is Chase Hutchinson. The other is Chase Burns. The two Chases competed in an office jousting match to decide who would retain first-name rights; Hutchinson lost, so now we call him Hutch. Chase was fine with being called "Mr. Burns," but no one took him up on the suggestion.

Meet us at Old Faithful in 30 so we can all have a good cry: WE MEAN, so we can celebrate Yellowstone National Park's 150th birthday. Birthdays always make us cry.


Something else to cry over: It's Burger Month over at Lil Woody's. Look at these beautiful burgs. They're so beautiful. We're crying right now.

False alarm: Earlier this morning, a claim that an active shooter situation was unfolding at Washington's Hanford nuclear site went a little viral. Authorities said they found no evidence of an active shooter. "It was determined that work activities in the immediate area were likely mistaken for gunshots," writes KOMO. Move along.

If we have to suffer the noise that comes from KOMO and other TV stations' helicopters constantly circling over downtown, we might as well look at their disaster porn every once in a while. Here they are flying over the flooding around Green River.

The son of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Anu Nadella is dead: Zain Nadella was 26. Microsoft confirmed his passing and noted Zain was born with cerebral palsy. There weren't many additional details. "Last year, Seattle Children’s hospital, where Zain received much of his treatment, joined with the Nadellas to establish the Zain Nadella Endowed Chair in Pediatric Neurosciences, as part of Seattle Children’s Center for Integrative Brain Research," reports Bloomberg.

The Tacoma woman who torched five police cars in May 2020 during Seattle protests following George Floyd's murder pleaded guilty, and a judge sentenced her to five years in federal prison. The judge told the woman, 26-year-old Margaret Aislinn Channon, that her actions caused “tremendous damage to Black Lives Matter in Seattle," reports Mike Carter for the Seattle Times.

Graffiti patrol: A recent protest resulted in someone tagging the empty Russian consulate in Capitol Hill. Capitol Hill Seattle Blawg reports that the consulate is indeed still empty. Probably full of bad vibes though.

Sticker patrol will come back for its second "season" later this month. The first season is all on our Instagram—go to our videos, click series, click Sticker Patrol, and bam.

Remember that story Jas wrote about yesterday about all the loud sex in NYC? That story had us thinking about Kelly O. Hope that woman found peace.

An update on the bill that would (eventually) lift the ban on legislative workers unionizing: It passed the House and is headed to the Senate. Rich wrote more about the bill last week right here.


Lastly, HAPPY MARDI GRAS! Party while you can. Tomorrow, WE GET SERIOUS 😤

Mardi gras and carnival are always an excuse to look at Sambadrome videos. We love Sambadrome videos. Look at how big those freaking floats are.