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This Hour: Latest Washington news, sports, business and entertainment

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BOEING 787-OIL FILTER

United 787 heading to Tokyo diverted to Seattle

SEATTLE (AP) - United Airlines says an oil filter issue has prompted the crew of a Boeing 787 flying from Denver to Tokyo to divert to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

According to the Seattle Times, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer says United Flight 139 landed safely in Seattle shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday after the crew declared an emergency.

United just put its 787s back in the air May 20 after smoldering batteries on two 787s owned by other airlines prompted authorities to ground the planes in January.

In a statement, United spokeswoman Mary Ryan says Tuesday's crew decided to land in Seattle because of "an indication of a problem with an oil filter." She said the landing was normal and the airline was working to re-accommodate about 200 passengers.

BRIDGE COLLAPSE

Collapsed I-5 Skagit bridge reopens Wednesday

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - A temporary bridge over the Skagit River will open today, restoring Interstate 5 traffic less than a month after the old bridge collapsed.

Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson says the temporary span will carry 99% of I-5 traffic. Oversized and overweight loads will still be detoured.

After the bridge collapsed on May 23, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee set a goal of restoring it by mid-June. He went to Mount Vernon on Tuesday to inspect the span and praised workers for completing in days what normally would have taken months.

At 24-feet wide, the 160-foot temporary section is narrower than the old bridge and traffic will have to slow to 40 mph.

The temporary span and a permanent replacement due this fall will cost nearly $18 million.

ENERGY SECRETARY-HANFORD

Energy Secretary to visit Hanford site in Wash.

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - New Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz is set to make his first visit to the nation's most contaminated nuclear site since being confirmed by the Senate last month.

Moniz vowed during his confirmation hearings to visit south-central Washington's Hanford Nuclear Reservation and to work to secure money to ensure cleanup is finished.

The Energy Department spends roughly $2 billion annually to clean up waste left from decades of plutonium production. That's roughly one-third of its budget for nuclear waste cleanup nationally.

But the department has faced increasing criticism in recent months amid rising costs and delays. The department notified Washington and Oregon that it may not meet two upcoming deadlines to empty some underground tanks of radioactive waste and to complete part of a plant to treat that waste.

ANGRY CROWD-GROPER

Seattle: angry crowd chases suspected 'groper'

SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle police say they rescued - and arrested - a man who had been chased by an angry crowd that believed he groped a woman in a downtown park.

An account posted Tuesday on the police website said police responded Monday to a report of a fight in Occidental Park. Witnesses told officers about the groping incident.

The witnesses also said a crowd of people chased the suspect through nearby Pioneer Square. They said the man had punched 2 of his pursuers.

Officers booked the man into the King County Jail for investigation of 3 counts of assault.

FISHERMAN DROWNS

Man drowns chasing fishing pole into Ore. river

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Authorities say a fisherman who dove into the Columbia River after his pole has drowned.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office says the report came in after noon on Tuesday.

Deputies reported the man was in a boat with a companion when he lost his pole. The sheriff's office says he apparently wasn't wearing a life jacket.

His fishing partner reported seeing the man struggling in the water. But the partner said that by the time he could turn the boat, the man in the water was face down and unconscious.

PUBLIC DEFENSE TRIAL

Closing arguments held in public defense trial

SEATTLE (AP) - A lawyer is asking a federal judge to find that the public defense systems in two Skagit County cities are inadequate, saying "a warm body with a law degree doesn't cut it" when it comes to providing legal representation to poor defendants.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington sued Burlington and Mount Vernon two years ago, alleging a litany of shortcomings that systematically violated poor defendants' constitutional rights to effective lawyering. From April 2005 to 2012, the organization noted, those services were provided by just two part-time lawyers, Witt and Richard Sybrandy, who combined handled more than 2,000 cases a year.

The cities say they've overhauled their systems to make them a model of public defense. But attorney Toby Marshall, who represents the plaintiffs, told U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in closing arguments Tuesday that the lawyers who represent poor defendants in Burlington and Mount Vernon remain vastly overworked, and that means the defendants aren't getting the legal help they're entitled to.

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Wash. delegation: Feds should respect pot law

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - More than half of Washington's congressional delegation is asking the U.S. government to respect the state's marijuana legalization effort.

In a letter released Tuesday, seven members of Congress asked the Department of Justice to not pre-empt the new law or prosecute residents acting in compliance with state law. They also asked federal officials to provide guidance on the U.S. government's legal response to a marijuana industry.

The letter was signed by all of the state's Democratic members of Congress, except for U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen. None of the state's Republican representatives signed the letter.

Washington voters approved an initiative last year to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, and state officials are currently in the process of setting up a system to produce, distribute and sell the product.

CAR INTO BUILDING

Driver, 79, crashes into Seattle building

SEATTLE (AP) - Emergency officials say a 79-year-old woman suffered minor injuries when she crashed her car into a commercial building in north Seattle, damaging two offices. No one else was hurt.

Seattle police spokeswoman Renee Witt tells The Seattle Times the driver told officers on Tuesday that she thought she was putting the vehicle into drive but instead put it in reverse and hit the building.

Police say the driver also struck some other vehicles.

Seattle firefighters say the building did not suffer any significant structural damage.

KOMO-TV reports that two businesses were hit, a chiropractic office and an insurance office.

PRISON DRUG RING

Centralia man accused of running drug ring

CENTRALIA, Wash. (AP) - A Centralia man imprisoned at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell is accused of leading a drug trafficking operation from behind bars.

The Chronicle reports 30-year-old Forrest E. Amos was the focus of a six-month investigation involving local, state and federal agencies that resulted in arrests or charges referred Monday against Amos and 20 other people in King, Thurston, Lewis and Cowlitz counties.

Centralia Sgt. Jim Shannon said Amos will face a number of drug-related charges. He's accused of using personal information from other inmates to set up false phone lines and make collect calls to arrange sales of pain pills and marijuana. He's also accused of working to smuggle drugs into prison.

EVERETT-REARDON

Wife of former county exec resigns Everett job

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - The wife of the recently resigned Snohomish County executive has left her job as spokeswoman for the city of Everett, Wash.

The Daily Herald reports that Kate Reardon said Tuesday in a statement she was leaving her job of the past decade to accept "a new and exciting career opportunity."

The wife of Aaron Reardon did not elaborate.

At the end of last month, Aaron Reardon left office in the middle of his third term after being investigated for the possible misuse of county money. He has not been charged. He has not discussed future plans, only saying he was leaving public life.

NATIVE AMERICAN LAND

Tribal land buy-back program starting

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Interior Department says it is ready to start a program to help Native American tribes buy parcels of reservation land that have accumulated multiple owners.

The purchases announced Tuesday are part of the settlement of the Cobell lawsuit over government mismanagement of Indian land royalties.

Outgoing Interior deputy secretary David Hayes says purchase offers should begin at the end of the year and speed up in coming years.

The program will start with the Pine Ridge, S.D.; Crow, Mont. and Makah, Wash. reservations and the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota tribe and involve 10 to 12 tribes by year's end.

Allotting reservation land to individual tribe members, who passed it to heirs, was once a government method for assimilating American Indians. Some parcels now have thousands of owners.

TACOMA LEOPARD CUB

Tacoma zoo's leopard cub now on public exhibit

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - A clouded leopard cub born May 1 at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma is now on public exhibit.

Zookeepers named it Tien (TEE'-en), a Thai word with a connotation of strength and stability.

The News Tribune reports the cub weighed a half-pound when born and now weighs 4 pounds. The public can see it at daily 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. feedings.

Clouded leopards are native to Southeast Asia forests. They are an endangered species.

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