Credit: Skagit Valley Herald

SKAGIT COUNTY, Wash. - — Both north and southbound lanes of the Interstate 5 Skagit River Bridge collapsed Thursday evening, said officials with the Washington State Patrol.

The collapse happened between south of Burlington and north of Mount Vernon just after 7 p.m.

According to the State Patrol, people and vehicles are in the water.

Via: I-5 Skagit River Bridge Collapses; People, Vehicles in Water | kirotv.com

RT @kiro7seattle: I-5 bridge collapse photo tweeted to us by @dustystarling >>> twitter.com/dustystarling/…

— Michael Rusch (@weeddude) May 24, 2013

BREAKING - photo of man on his car in Skagit River after I-5 bridge collapse: twitter.com/KING5Seattle/s…

— KING 5 News(@KING5Seattle) May 24, 2013

BREAKING PHOTO: Large crowd at site of I-5 bridge collapse on Skagit River in WA; people/cars in water -@king5seattle twitter.com/NewsBreaker/st…

— NewsBreaker (@NewsBreaker) May 24, 2013

@kiro7seattle @gina_svh here is a better one taken from my sister in law who is standing on the dike. twitter.com/hazhauler/stat…

— Josh (@hazhauler) May 24, 2013

BREAKING - photo shows man standing outside his truck in the river after I-5 bridge collapse over Skagit River twitter.com/KING5Seattle/s…

— KING 5 News(@KING5Seattle) May 24, 2013

Photo via the @komonews facebook page from viewer Molly Olsen #SkagitBridge #I5bridgecollapse twitter.com/komonews/statu…

— KOMO News (@komonews) May 24, 2013

Photo from KOMO viewer Karissa Garcia of #SkagitBridge #I5BridgeCollapse twitter.com/komonews/statu…

— KOMO News (@komonews) May 24, 2013

My buddy in Mount Vernon snapped this pic of I-5 bridge collapse. #Skagitbridge twitter.com/NickKrupke/sta…

— Nick Krupke (@NickKrupke) May 24, 2013

Rescue boats are under the bridge and near the submerged truck #SkagitBridge #I5BridgeCollapse twitter.com/komonews/statu…

— KOMO News (@komonews) May 24, 2013

Rescue boats transporting people out of #SkagitBridge collapse (Rick Lund /ST) twitter.com/SeaTimesPhoto/…

— Seattle Times Photo (@SeaTimesPhoto) May 24, 2013

(Reuters) - The tornado that struck the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday was a rare EF5, the highest rating the National Weather Service assigns in classifying the strength of tornadoes.

An EF5 tornado can pack winds exceeding 200 miles per hour and damage is devastating, the service said.

Damage assessment teams also determined that the huge tornado cut a path of approximately 17 miles by 1.3 miles wide.

Via: Oklahoma Tornado Upgraded to EF5, Highest Strength Rating | Reuters

Here’s another thread to keep up on events in Moore, Oklahoma, with some sad news from the Associated Press:

BREAKING: State medical examiner’s office: 37 killed in Oklahoma tornado; death toll expected to rise -RJJ

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2013

BREAKING: State medical examiner’s office: 51 killed in Oklahoma tornado, with children among the dead -RJJ

— The Associated Press (@AP) May 21, 2013

Closeup video of the monster from a storm chaser:

The huge tornado that touched down today near Moore, Oklahoma, has caused terrible devastation; here’s a shot from MSNBC of one area of completely leveled homes and buildings.

More photos of the destroyed areas:

Worst tornado damage I have seen since Joplin. Picture of what’s left of a daycare in Moore, Oklahoma. Brings tears. twitter.com/StormCoker/sta…

— Georgia Storm Chaser (@StormCoker) May 20, 2013

I can hardly wait to see the comments at right wing blogs about this.

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama plan to travel to Africa in late June and early July, the White House said Monday.

The first couple plans to visit Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania from June 26 to July 3,the National Security Counsel said on Twitter. The White House hasn’t yet released an official announcement of the trip.

Via: Obamas to Africa This Summer

Michele Bachmann inconsolable.

With deafening cheers and overwhelming emotion, the Minnesota Senate voted 37-30 to legalize same-sex marriage.

“Today, love wins,” said Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick.

The vote, on the heels of a vote last week in the House, brings to a close a decade of debate over marriage that has echoed through the Capitol, bringing thousands of friends and foes of gay marriage to its marbled dome to express their deeply held feelings.

The measure next moves to Gov. Mark Dayton, who will welcome it with his signature in a celebratory ceremony at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the south steps of the Capitol.

Interesting new details on the plans and motivations of the Tsarnaev brothers: Boston Bombing Suspects Planned Fourth of July Attacks, Source Says.

The brothers finished building the bombs in Tamerlan’s apartment in Cambridge, Mass., faster than they anticipated, and so decided to accelerate their attack to the Boston Marathon on April 15, Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts, from July, according to the account that Dzhokhar provided authorities. They picked the finish line of the marathon after driving around the Boston area looking for alternative sites, according to this account.

In addition, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has told authorities that he and his brother viewed the Internet sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American cleric who moved to Yemen and was killed in September 2011 by an American drone strike. There is no indication that the brothers communicated with Mr. Awlaki before his death.

From left, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, from Kazakhstan, with bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in New York

In the Boston bombing investigation, three college students have been arrested and will be charged with helping the Tsarnaev brothers cover their tracks after the attack.

The US Attorney’s office confirmed that three men arrested in connection with the attacks face charges of conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19 and originally from Kazakhstan, will be charged conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements.

The third suspect, Robel Phillipos, 19, of Cambridge, faces charges of making false statements.

According to the criminal complaints, Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev helped the Tsarnaev brothers after the bombings by throwing away possible evidence, including a laptop and a backpack full of fireworks that was in the UMass Dartmouth dorm room of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Better pic of fireworks FBI found. #wcvb twitter.com/wcvbkelleyt/st…

— Kelley Tuthill (@wcvbkelleyt) May 1, 2013

Here are the complaints against Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev (PDF).

Azamat and Dias, by the way, are the ones who were questioned earlier by police — the Daily Fail wrongly reported at the time that they had been arrested, and tried to make a big deal out of their “Terrorista #1” novelty license plate. (Which was based on a line in “Harlem Shake,” and wasn’t a sekrit confession.)

Also see:
More Arrests in Boston - the Confederacy of Dunces Widens

More news tonight about the Mississippi man arrested in the ricin letter case: Feds Finds Ricin Traces at Miss. Suspect’s Dojo.

A dust mask allegedly discarded by the man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) tested positive for the poison, according to a court document made public on Tuesday.

After James Everett Dutschke stopped by his former martial arts school in Mississippi last week, a government surveillance team observed him throw a box of latex gloves, the packaging for a coffee grinder, and a dust mask into a public garbage bin, according to an affidavit given by an FBI special agent.

The mask later tested positive for ricin, as did a liquid sample taken from the drain in the martial arts dojo’s sink, two swabs taken from inside the school, and items that had been vacuumed from the floor of the dojo, according to the affidavit.

[…]

Last week, federal agents allegedly got records that showed Dutschke used a Paypal account to make two purchases of castor beans through Ebay’s website late last year, according to the affidavit.

This is a terrific moment, as a Cambridge resident confronts Dan Bidondi, the Alex Jones stooge who disrupted press conferences about the Boston bombings with inane questions about “false flags.”

In a perfect world, every time one of these delusional creeps showed up in public, people would be there to treat them exactly like this. This unnamed Bostonian is our hero of the day.

Also see:
‘You Son of a B*Tch’: Furious Boston Man Confronts ‘A**Hole’ Alex Jones Reporter Over ‘False Flag’ Allegations | Mediaite