The Supreme Court … temporarily restored wider access to the abortion pill mifepristone? Key word temporarily. An order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will allow mifepristone to be sold in pharmacies, sent through the mail, and prescribed through telehealth, as has been the case for years. It blocked a ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last week, which required the pill be distributed only in person and at clinics. The great state of Louisiana had sued, claiming access to mifepristone undermined its Godly ban on abortion. The drug’s manufacturers filed emergency appeals, asking SCOTUS to weigh in. Alito’s order will be in effect for a week while both sides respond and the court “more fully considers the issue,” the AP reports.
Shut down the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), like some local lawmakers want to? Even after a dismal financial audit revealed the agency is $44.7 million in the hole, and cannot account for almost $13 million—it is probably an overly simplistic solution, advocates and homelessness service providers told The Seattle Times. We have no idea what we’d replace it with or when we’d replace it. If politicians did start over from scratch, providers shuddered at the thought of going through the same dysfunction as they did in KCRHA’s early years. Making the same mistakes by drawing up another heedless plan is just going to hurt people, they say.
May Day: Thousands of people turned out for labor rallies across the state for International Worker’s Day on Friday. Along with the usual calls for better pay and working conditions, marchers focused on abolishing ICE.
Weather: Just like that, we live in a tropical paradise. I think I see a toucan and his nephews. Today, expect sun and a high near 79. Another sunny day tomorrow, with a high near 75. Wednesday, mostly sun with a high of 71.
BTW, Sunday broke temperature records. The mercury shot to 81 at SeaTac, 4 degrees higher than the 77-degree record set in 1992. But that record was relatively weak, the National Weather Service told The Seattle Times.
Missing your car? Did you perchance drive it directly into Lake Washington and walk away, dripping but unharmed, and leave it nearly totally submerged 50 feet away from the shores of Seward Park? Was it a Toyota 4Runner, not king, but maybe duke among sports utility vehicles? The police would like a word.
Child Shot in Olympic National Forest: The Mason County Sheriff’s Office says around 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning, dispatchers received a call from a man who said someone had shot at his vehicle near Spider Lake. His child had been hit, and he was driving to Mason General Hospital for help. The child was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center—thank God it wasn’t Children’s, the helicopter might have disturbed the delicate sleep of the neighbors—for further treatment. Officials have not said what condition the child is in, reports KING 5.
Cruise from Hell: A Dutch cruise ship is waiting for help off the coast of Cape Verde with three dead and three perilously sick from a suspected outbreak of hantavirus, a rare infection that begins with flu-like symptoms and can progress to life-threatening heart and lung problems. The ship, the MV Hondius, was on a weeklong sail from Argentina to Antarctica when a 70-year-old Dutch man died near Saint Helena, a British territory 1,200 miles off the African coast. His wife, 69, was taken to South Africa. She collapsed in the Johannesburg airport, then died at a hospital. A sick British man taken off the ship at Ascension island in the Atlantic tested positive for hantavirus. He’s isolated and in intensive care at a South African hospital.
Jeeves, of Ask Jeeves dot com, Is Dead: The website Ask.com shut down Friday. Though Jeeves hasn’t been the mascot since 2006, I want to thank him for allowing my cousins to show me a comedic flash animation of Saddam Hussein in 2003. I can’t remember it, but based on all the information available to me about that time, I am certain it was offensive. Rest easy, Jeeves.
Another Cruise from Hell: President Donald Trump launched “Project Freedom” over the weekend, his operation to shepherd stranded commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported the Revolutionary Guard Corps had struck a Navy destroyer with missiles, forcing it to turn back. The US military denied the claim, saying it successfully accompanied two American-flagged merchant ships to safety. A tale of two unreliable narrators. It was the worst of times.
Horse Wins Kentucky Derby: Surprised? Golden Tempo, a 23-1 shot, and his jockey Jose Ortiz rallied from last place to win the $5 million derby at Churchill Downs.
Okay but the actual surprising thing was Golden Tempo made his trainer, Cherie DeVaux, the first woman trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. As they say, with a name like Cherie DeVaux, you just have to win the Kentucky Derby. Ignore the fact that the event has been going on for 152 years. Reality makes the exciting parts sad.
The oldest millennials are 45, and to help prepare for a heckin’ long life of trivia nights with their derp faces on, MIT’s AgeLab has developed the Longevity Preparedness Index, or LPI. The quiz is free, takes about 15 minutes, and will score you across eight areas, including relationships with family and friends, health, and daily activities. NPR, whose survival depends on aging millennials aging, has more.
May the 4th Be With You: A New Hope is a great movie. The Phantom Menace is not a good movie, but it is not nearly as bad as people say it is. The Rise of Skywalker is so horrid, I think people barely remember it due to a blackout trauma response of some kind.
A word to the white. Don’t wear a sombrero tomorrow.
