TheRepublic.com - Washington News

Wash. I-5 bridge collapse caused by oversize load

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:25:35 -0400

MOUNT VERNON, Washington - A truck hauling a too-tall load hit an overhead girder of a bridge on the major thoroughfare between Seattle and Canada, sending a section of the span and two vehicles into the Skagit River below, though all three occupants suffered only minor injuries.

Collapsed WA bridge was used by 71,000 cars a day

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:07:23 -0400

MOUNT VERNON, Washington - The Washington Transportation Department says an average of 71,000 vehicles a day used the stretch of Interstate 5 through Mount Vernon that is now blocked by the collapse of the Skagit River bridge.

Walters: Ignoring $10 billion debt won't make it go...

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:47:19 -0400

By DAN WALTERS - When Gov. Jerry Brown talks about reducing California's "wall of debt," he carefully limits it to about $30 billion in budget deficits, mostly money owed to schools and community colleges.

Collapsed Mount Vernon bridge built in 1955

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:47:06 -0400

MOUNT VERNON, Washington - The Interstate 5 bridge that collapsed into the Skagit River was built in 1955 and was inspected two times last year in August and November.

State: Steve Powell can't return to old Wash. home

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:20:07 -0400

OLYMPIA, Washington - A Washington Corrections Department spokesman confirms that the father-in-law of missing Utah mother Susan Powell has been told he can't return to his Puyallup (Pew-AL-up) home if he wants to qualify for early prison release.

Editorial: Immigration bill a promising sign our system can...

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:46:31 -0400

An editorial / By Dale McFeatters - "Miracle" is perhaps too strong a word, but it is a major marvel that in the current poisonous, take-no-prisoners atmosphere of Washington the Senate Judiciary Committee produced a complicated -- 800-plus pages -- and comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, the first, despite repeated efforts, since the Reagan administration.

Watch: Are we awake yet?

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:46:19 -0400

WASHINGTON - By ANN McFEATTERS

Wash. prison: guard punched in face by inmate

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:49:06 -0400

MONROE, Washington - Authorities say a corrections officer at the state prison in Monroe, Washington, was treated at a hospital after an inmate punched him in the face during a religious service.

Wash. kids play with dead bats, get rabies shots

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:13:03 -0400

MOSES LAKE, Washington - The Grant County Health District says some Moses Lake, Washington, children are getting precautionary rabies shots after they were found playing with several dead bats.

WSU squares off against golf course opponents

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:34:10 -0400

Opponents of a 7,305-yard golf course at Washington State University contend the school is mining a declining aquifer that provides water to the region for an amenity. University officials contend their use of the water is lawful.

Mariners send slumping C Montero to minors

Thu, 23 May 2013 19:29:39 -0400

SEATTLE - The Seattle Mariners sent slumping catcher Jesus Montero to the minor leagues Thursday, a year after acquiring him in trade full of potential that hasn't panned out for either side.

NWSL sees mixed results in startup season

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:34:57 -0400

PORTLAND, Oregon - The Portland Thorns' season couldn't be going any better. They're sitting atop the National Women's Soccer League's opening-season standings and drawing more than 11,000 fans to home games. And they've got Alex Morgan.

Editorial: On Memorial Day, it's remembrance that...

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:55:34 -0400

An editorial / By Dale McFeatters - Cutbacks in the military budget and the still-recovering economy mean this Memorial Day weekend will go down as a relatively subdued affair -- relative, that is, to our usual end-of-school, official-start-of-summer blowout.

Wash. college students ask Congress for stability

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:50:18 -0400

SEATTLE - College students in Washington state say they need Congress to give them affordable student loans at a rate they can depend on, instead of a yearly debate on rising interest rates.

Little known about suspect in Wash. ricin case

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:43:41 -0400

SPOKANE, Washington - A 37-year-old janitor who has been charged with threatening to kill a federal judge in a case that involves letters containing the deadly poison ricin is a registered sex offender who lived in a rundown apartment building near downtown Spokane.

deafReview gives voice to deaf consumers

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:48:34 -0400

SEATTLE - By ALYSA HULLETT

Endangered crane chick born at Seattle zoo

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:06:19 -0400

SEATTLE - The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle announces the birth of a red-crown crane chick.

Not guilty plea in child neglect death at Tulalip

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:02:45 -0400

SEATTLE - A woman accused of neglecting two young daughters in a car on the Tulalip Indian Reservation had a not guilty plea entered for her Thursday if federal court in Seattle.

Violence prompts Seattle to add 2 new park rangers

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:55:22 -0400

SEATTLE - Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced Thursday the city is hiring two new park rangers to patrol Cal Anderson Park and Occidental Square.

RedBlueAmerica: Are White House scandals a Big Government...

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:52:13 -0400

By BEN BOYCHUK and JOEL MATHIS - Congress this week delved deeper into claims that the Internal Revenue Service improperly targeted conservative and religious nonprofit groups for extraordinary scrutiny in 2009 and 2010, and kept mum about the until after the 2012 election.

Thomasson: Does Obama have Plausible Deniability?

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:50:47 -0400

By DAN THOMASSON - The name of the game is and always has been Plausible Deniability. The goal is to protect the big guy in the Oval Office from prior knowledge of politically damaging activity. You know that's true when "What did the president know, and when did he know it?" becomes the paramount question.

Top-ranked amateur Williams ready for NCAAs

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:20:28 -0400

SEATTLE - When Chris Williams found out he was the No. 1 ranked amateur golfer in the world, it came in the same way he's learned about many of the other accolades in his career.

No pay raise for Washington governor this year

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:16:20 -0400

OLYMPIA, Washington - Gov. Jay Inslee and most statewide elected officials and lawmakers won't get a pay raise this year, but judges will see a salary hike under the salary schedule adopted by the Washington Citizen's Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials.

Seattle Sounders facing long, odd road trip

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:08:08 -0400

TUKWILA, Washington - Two games in six days going back-and-forth to Southern California was going to be enough of a travel challenge for the Seattle Sounders. Then U.S. Soccer decided to throw a major detour into the Sounders travel plans.

Nationals' Bryce Harper has the look of a superstar

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:47:23 -0400

SAN FRANCISCO - By MARCOS BRETON