Fries had laid off copy editor Quinn Welsch and staff writer Josh Kelety the day before, which the newsroom text-message network had spread around.

On Zoom, they divvied up the workload, and Fries told them to use paid hours to start their underemployment claims with the Washington Economic Security Department".

[9][10][better source needed] In September 2020, The Washington Post reported that Inlander reporter Daniel Walters had received a "barrage of hateful insults" and a "threatening voice mail" from Washington state Rep. Jenny Graham after Walters "wrote a story that day about Graham sharing false articles on Facebook, including a story claiming thousands of missing children are kept in dungeons and raped by demons" and other QAnon conspiracies.

In his follow-up piece, Walters fact-checked "his earlier story and including the full recording of his interview with Graham, as well as the audio from a threatening voice mail she left him.

[...] Walters said he didn't write the story to shame Graham for cursing him out or posting about him on Facebook, rather to set the record straight".