MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - Highway officials say 67,000 vehicles a day used the stretch of Interstate 5 through Mount Vernon that is now blocked by the collapse of the Skagit River bridge. The Transportation Department has set up detours. The closest is within sight of the I-5 bridge and mostly used for local traffic between Mount Vernon and Burlington. The department also is recommending detours using Highway 20 and Highway 9 that add tens of miles to a trip. Officials are urging drivers to avoid the area if possible.
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - 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. Transportation Department spokesman Noel Brady in Seattle says it had a sufficiency rating of 47 out of 100. The state average is 80, according to an Associated Press analysis.
MONROE, Wash. (AP) - Authorities say a corrections officer at the state prison in Monroe was treated at a hospital after an inmate punched him in the face during a religious service. The Daily Herald of Everett says the 56-year-old officer was knocked backward and hit his head on a door Wednesday. He wasn't identified. Inmate Allen Pavese was moved into segregation.
RENTON, Wash. (AP) - A woman who was wounded in a shootout Wednesday night at a Renton park has died. Police tell KOMO the 20-year-old woman was hit in the abdomen and could not be saved despite surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she died yesterday. Police say the gunfire erupted during a fight at Liberty Park.
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