Skagit County News

To assist travelers affected by yesterday's I-5 highway bridge collapse in Skagit County, Amtrak Cascades will add one round trip route between Seattle and Bellingham, Wash., in the coming weeks.

The bridge collapse over the Skagit River in Mount Vernon Thursday has completely shut down Interstate 5, and as the Memorial Day holiday gets under way, officials are grappling with the next step in filling the gaping hole in the main north-south thoroughfare through Skagit County.

As news of the I-5 bridge collapse reached the islands on Thursday evening, the first instinct of local government was to help it's neighbors.

It was shaping up to be another routine commute home. That is, if you can call the 56-mile-each-way commute between south Mount Vernon and Seattle I've been doing now for more than two decades ordinary.

Anacortes' Majestic Inn & Spa started getting cancellations soon after the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed Thursday evening.

WHEREAS , a section of the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River in Skagit County collapsed on May 23, 2013, closing the Interstate in both directions, requiring implementation of detours through adjacent neighborhood roadways, causing extensive disruption of the primary north and south bound transportation route through Western Washington, and ... (more)

WSDOT is asking drivers to avoid the I-5 Skagit River area if possible, or allow ample time for a slow commute.

Aerial shot from helicopter from CBS Seattle affiliate KIRO-TV of partial bridge collapse along I-5 aboubt 60 miles north of Seattle on May 23, 2013 Dan Sligh and his wife were in their pickup truck on Interstate 5 heading to a holiday weekend barbecue when a bridge before them disappeared in a "big puff of dust." "I hit the brakes and we went ... (more)

Chase Utley, who has been as injury-prone as anyone in the Phillies organization the last three seasons, finds himself on the 15-day disabled list In the Dish column on May 10, we planned to put to bed, for a while, at least, comments and letters about snapper soup and soft-shell crabs.

Thursday night, U.S. Senator Patty Murray released the following statement in response to the I-5 bridge collapse in Skagit County, WA.

A portion of an interstate highway bridge in Washington state collapsed Thursday night, sending cars and people into the water, authorities said.

A massive emergency effort is underway after a bridge collapse across the Skagit River in western Washington sent cars and people into the water Thursday evening.

More students at Centennial and Little Mountain elementary schools will be walking or biking to school starting Monday as part of a pilot project to test several safe walking zones around the schools.

A 70-year old man was booked into the Skagit County Jail Sunday for investigation of second-degree murder in the the death of his 61-year-old longtime girlfriend, according to the Skagit County Sheriff's Office.

This historic town edging Swinomish Channel is a good base for exploring the rich and scenic farmland of the Skagit Valley, an hour north of Seattle.

The so-called Barefoot Bandit, Colton Harris-Moore, released a handwritten note Thursday vowing, "I will have a beautiful life." Apparently, Harris-Moore wanted to say these words to the judge at his sentencing in Skagit County Wednesday but there was some confusion and he was led away before he could speak.

Colton Harris-Moore, right, who is also known as the "Barefoot Bandit," stands in a Skagit County Superior Courtroom, Wednesday, May 8, 2013, in Mount Vernon, Wash., as his attorney, John Henry Browne, second from right, speaks, and Skagit County Deputy Prosecutor Eric Peterson, left, looks on.

The attorney for "Barefoot Bandit" Colton Harris-Moore says his client will plead guilty to one burglary count stemming from an international crime spree for which Harris-Moore is already serving prison time.

I attended a meeting of People for Healthcare Freedom in Mount Vernon and left with the sickening thought that no matter what the People for Healthcare Freedom said or did, the board of commissioners would do whatever it wanted ["Hospitals' proposed affiliation with Catholic systems opposed," NWSunday, April 28]. Not that the board means any ill ... (more)

Stacy Miller, 48, is a program manager at the Bellingham-Whatcom County Commission Against Domestic Violence, working with the Ferndale schools on a program to reduce teen dating violence.