[Civic Minute] Local Roe v. Wade reactions, cruise season kicks off with a COVID outbreak, and more...

Elected officials and healthcare providers across the state are preparing for an influx of patients seeking abortions, which will remain legal in Washington state even if Roe v. Wade is overturned. [Seattle Times, Seattle Times, Crosscut, Seattle Times]

The median home price for houses and townhomes in Seattle proper hit a new all-time high of $1,019,950 last month, up 16.6% from April of 2021 and 5% from March of this year.

Dow Constantine appointed interim King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall to the permanent position, subject to her confirmation by the King County Council. [Seattle Times, Seattle Medium]

A COVID-stricken cruise ship docked in Seattle the day after the official start of the 2022 cruise season, let its passengers off, and then immediately set sail for Alaska. [KING 5, Seattle Times]

The left-hand portion of the I-5 southbound lanes downtown (the ones you take if you don't want to exit downtown or onto I-90) will be closed, and I-5 south between Sodo and Boeing Field will be reduced to just two lanes, nearly every Saturday and Sunday between now and September for maintenance work. [Seattle Times, KING 5]

The Seattle Times reached a settlement with the City of Seattle in its lawsuit over Mayor Durkan's infamous missing text messages from the summer of 2020, part of which includes a requirement for the City to change the way in which it archives and retains employees' text messages. [Seattle Times]

City Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Sara Nelson are pursuing slightly different proposals for using hiring incentives to attract more SPD officers, with Mayor Harrell throwing his support behind Nelson's proposal after initially saying that he planned to release a proposal of his own on the subject. [Seattle Times, MyNorthwest]

Boeing announced that they're moving their corporate headquarters from Chicago to northern Virginia, presumably in order to increase their focus on lobbying the federal government (as opposed to, say, moving their HQ back to the Seattle area to focus on improving the quality of the troubled planes they've been producing recently). [Seattle Times, The Stranger]

Starting on May 3rd, 2023 you'll need either a passport or an enhanced driver's license to be able to take domestic flights, so be sure you're prepared when the deadline comes (although the deadline has been extended for something like 5 years in a row now, so don't be surprised if it gets moved again). [KING 5]

InvestigateWest's Anushuya Thapa wrote what's easily the best piece I've ever read on the combined sewer overflow system that Seattle and King County are building (in a federally-mandated attempt to prevent raw sewage and other contaminants from overflowing into Puget Sound during heavy rainfall). [Crosscut/InvestigateWest]

And Heidi Groover reported on the most expensive home that's ever been listed for sale in Washington state, a 17,000 sq ft waterfront estate in Hunts Point that was originally built for Kenny G in 1995 but has been in the McCaw family (whose money comes from McCaw Cellular, an early telecoms company in Redmond that was sold to AT&T in the early 90s) since 1999 and is now on the market for $85 million. [Seattle Times]