SHINE – The Hood Canal Bridge reopened more than a day ahead of its scheduled opening this morning.
The bridge closed Thursday night and was expected to reopen early today. Instead, crews finished their work in time to open the span again by 10:20 p.m. Saturday, Department of Transportation spokesman Lloyd Brown said.
The closure allowed the state to replace the bridge’s 2 million-pound, 190-foot western approach span, a section of the bridge supported by columns on land.
State transportation officials said a lack of problems with the bridge deck rolls helped move the weekend-long closure ahead of schedule.
The eastern approach span is due to be replaced during a second closure, planned for Aug. 21-25.
Associated Press
Tacoma: Tots fend for selves after mom dies
Two young children apparently lived alone for up to three days after their mother died, eating hot dogs and cold cuts as the woman lay dead in her bedroom, police said.
Neighbors called authorities to the Tacoma home Saturday morning after seeing the 2-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl in dirty clothes outside their house.
Officers found the boy inside the home crying and the girl upstairs, where she directed police to her mother’s bedroom. They found the woman dead under the covers.
Authorities believe the woman had been dead since Wednesday or Thursday, Tacoma police spokeswoman Tracy Conaway said.
The children are now staying with relatives, police said.
Associated Press
La Push: Coast Guard finds missing boat safe
The U.S. Coast Guard has located a 24-foot pleasure boat that went missing near the Quillayute River in Clallam County. All five people on board were found safe Sunday.
A Good Samaritan located the boat about 2:45 p.m. after hearing an urgent marine information broadcast. The boaters found two miles south of La Push had been lost and disoriented in fog since Saturday.
A motor life boat from the Coast Guard station on the Quillayute River was sent to escort it to La Push.
Coast Guard air crews and boat crews searched more than 1,366 square miles since Saturday afternoon. The boat did have a VHF radio on board, but the boat’s master, who called Clallam County 911, could not transmit their location to the Coast Guard.
Associated Press
Paradise: Searchers follow hiker’s tracks
Rangers on Sunday followed tracks they believe belong to a 22-year-old hiker who went missing during a camping trip in Mount Rainier National Park.
Searchers were focusing in an area north of Van Trump Park and east of the Kautz Glacier. Tracks matching Zachary Weston’s hiking boots were found in the area Saturday, said Lee Taylor, a park spokeswoman.
“They have been following those up to an elevation of almost 10,000 feet,” Taylor said.
The terrain that Weston has apparently been on is a rocky ridge line. Park officials know he bought an icepick and was prepared for steep snowy slopes, “but certainly not prepared for hiking on the actual glacier,” Taylor said.
Rangers began searching for Weston on Friday, after his friend reported that he didn’t show up to meet her in Ashford. The car Weston was in was found parked at the Comet Falls trailhead Thursday night.
Weston, of Meriden, Conn., had been camping and hiking in the park since June 22 and planned to leave Aug. 21.
Associated Press
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