There Was a Different Kind of Backup on the 520 Bridge: Nearly 30,000 people swarmed to celebrate the opening of the new SR 520 bridge on Saturday, KING 5 reports. SR 520, which was certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s longest floating bridge, reached capacity during the event. This created a traffic bottleneck that left some people waiting an hour for a shuttle bus, the Seattle Times reports. The new bridge will open to car traffic later this month.
There’s Another Traffic Headache Ahead: The West Seattle Herald reports that there will be three weeks of overnight closures on SR 99. They have all the deets here.
Alaska Airlines Scoops Up Virgin America for $2.6B: “Alaska said the deal will add Virgin’s 200 daily departures to its existing 1,000 daily flights. The airline currently serves 112 destinations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico,” KOMO reports. The Seattle-based airline is now the biggest carrier on the West Coast.
Whales Duked It out in Puget Sound: A group of whale watchers witnessed a young male killer whale, which belonged to a transient pod of Cetaceans, took on two 40-ton gray whales just off the coast of Whidbey Island, KOMO reports. The grays basically LOLed at the smaller whale and rolled onto their backs to give him a good thrashing. All of the whales survived the scuffle, although the young killer whale probably left with a bruised ego.
In Other Whale News: Six out of Puget Sound’s eight baby orcas are likely boys, which is freaking out scientists, KUOW reports.
Gov. Inslee Refused to Veto the Charter School Bill: Yup – the billionaire-backed schools got a thumbs up from the Washington governor. Ansel has more background on the bill here.
But Inslee Did Something Right About Schools, Too: He signed another bill in Tacoma that is “designed to help spread educational support to children dealing with homelessness throughout the state,” The News Tribune reports.
A City Group Will Release A Report About LGBTQ Refugees and Immigrants: Seattle Counseling Services and the Immigrant, Refugee and Undocumented Outreach Project have spent the last year researching the barriers LGBTQ immigrants, refugees, and undocumented people face accessing behavioral health services in King County. The groups will release their findings tonight at the Seattle Public Library’s central branch. Aleksa Manila will also perform at the event, the International Examiner reports.
The UW Community Remembers Katy Straalsund: The college sophomore was killed on March 22 after her boyfriend beat and choked her, the Tri-City Herald reports.
48 Years Ago Today: Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
Big Housing News From the Feds: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released a new report today, which states that turning down tenants or home buyers with criminal histories may violate the Fair Housing Act. “Barring people based just on arrest records is no good, HUD says, because arrests alone aren’t proof of guilt. … Instead, HUD writes, landlords should have a policy that takes into consideration what the crime was and when it happened, as well as other factors, to reduce the discriminatory impact. (The only exception is if a conviction was for manufacturing or distributing drugs.),” NPR reports. Why is this important? Because discriminatory housing practices disproportionately affect people of color.
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