Elaine Thompson / AP

The north end of the Interstate 5 bridge crossing the Skagit River lies collapsed in the water on Friday, in Mount Vernon, Wash. A truck carrying an oversize load struck the four-lane bridge on the major thoroughfare between Seattle and Canada, sending a section of the span and two vehicles into the Skagit River below Thursday evening. All three occupants suffered only minor injuries. At an overnight news conference, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste blamed the collapse on a tractor-trailer carrying a tall load that hit an upper part of the span.

The Washington state bridge collapse that spilled two cars into the Skagit River could give Americans pause as they hit the roads for Memorial Day holiday travel.

With good reason.

This weekend, millions will cross 66,000 bridges that the federal government has deemed "structurally deficient," meaning key elements are in poor condition.

The Federal Highway Administration hastens to note that label doesn't mean they are unsafe or in danger of collapse, but transportation advocates say it highlights a growing crisis of aging infrastructure, deferred maintenance and rebuilding, and design flaws.

"We don't expect an epidemic of collapses — that's the extreme," said Dan Goldberg, communications director for Transportation for America, a coalition that identified the busiest deficient bridges in the nation in a 2011 report.

"We are going to see probably some more of this, but the more likely scenario is contending with the issues of decay that happen before the collapse."

Big potholes, weight restrictions and lane closings are some of the inconveniences bridge users face unless reconstruction and replacement is ramped up across the nation, Goldberg said.

The Interstate 5 bridge in Mount Vernon, Wash., which apparently crumpled after being hit by an oversized truck, was not on the Federal Highway Administration's structurally-deficient list.

Famed spans aren't the problem. San Francisco's Golden Gate, for instance, is in pretty good shape. The Brooklyn Bridge is undergoing a massive rehabilitation project to correct its deficiencies.

But hundreds of less glamorous bridges — many of them generic overpasses that take commuters over cross streets or other highways — remain vulnerable.

Here are six crossings, together used by more than 1 million vehicles each day, that don't make the grade:

Maryland DOT

A view of I-695 crossing over Liberty Road in Maryland in August 2012.

I-76 over Klemm Ave. in Gloucester, N.J.: The deck and superstructure are in poor condition on this 11-lane interstate overpass that dates to 1956. More than 191,000 vehicles use it every day, and $30 million has been earmarked for deck replacement.

IS-695 over Milford Mill Road in Baltimore, Md.: Built in 1961 and reconstructed in 1979, this eight-lane overpass on the Baltimore Beltway has a deck and substructure in poor condition. But good news for nearly 190,000 vehicles that cross each day: It will be replaced in a two-year project starting this summer.

Halona St. Bridge in Honolulu, Hawaii: Built in 1938, this slab bridge over the Kapalama Canal is not slated for replacement until 2019. Some 184,000 vehicles travel the two-lane crossing, which has a deck and substructure in poor condition. 

Colorado DOT

A view of the I-70 bridge over Havana Street in Denver, Colo. E-17-JP

I-70 over Havana St. in Denver, Colo.: This 10-lane structure, which has a deck and substructure in poor condition, is slated for a rebuild in the next few years. Built in 1964 and reconstructed in 1978, it services 183,000 vehicles a day.

I-278 approach to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island, N.Y.: On an average day, 182,700 vehicles take this overpass to a majestic double-decker bridge. The substructure of the two-lane approach, built in 1961, is in poor condition.

I-95 over Hendricks Ave. in Jacksonville, Fla.: The deck is in poor condition on this nine-lane section of interstate that handles 121,000 vehicles a day. Built in 1959 and reconstructed in 1989, it is undergoing a replacement.

Source: Information about the structures was compiled by Nationalbridges.com, a website that analyzes data in the Federal Highway Administration's national bridge inventory.

Splash News

Ibragim Todashev is seen in 2009 at the Massachusetts gym where Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev trained.

The friend of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev who law enforcement forces said was shot and killed Wednesday after being questioned by the FBI about a brutal 2011 Boston-area homicide was a promising if somewhat forgettable mixed martial artist, fellow practitioners of the sport said.

Chris Palmquist, who operates the official registry for amateur and professional MMA fighters, said Ibragim Todashev, 27, fought his matches under the name Ibrahim Tody. “I don’t know if it was an alias he gave or if it was just a misspelling. Or a promoter could have entered him,” said Palmquist, who fought Todashev once in a competition about four years ago.

There was “nothing that stood out” about Todashev when the two faced off in a 2009 New England grappling competition, a video of which is online.

In another video from 2009, this one showing an MMA bout at American Steel Cage Fighting in New Hampshire, the man who was shot on Wednesday strides into the circular ring to the thumping bass of Cypress Hill’s song “Rock Superstar”: “You want to be a rock superstar and live large / A big house, five cars, you’re in charge.”

The announcer introduces him as “hailing” from Chechnya, a “freestyle fighter” with a “perfect amateur mixed martial arts record with four victories in all four of his bouts.” Before the start of the three-round fight – which Todashev would lose – two bikini-clad card girls circle the ring.

Courtesy of Gary Marino

Ibragim Todashev weighing in at a 2009 mixed martial arts competition in Salem, New Hampshire.

Todashev is credited in that video with fighting for Wai Kru, the same gym in Allston, Mass., frequented by Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The man’s father, Abdul Baki Todashev, told NBC News in a phone interview from Chechnya that his son and Tamerlan Tsarnaev “went to the same gym for boxing classes.”

His son and Tsarnaev, the older bombing suspect who was killed in a shootout with police, “never were close friends,” he said.

Mixed martial arts is a popular, full-contact fighting sport in which competitors use boxing and martial arts skills combined with grappling and wrestling moves to defeat their opponent. The introduction of the Ultimate Fighting Championship brought mixed martial arts to greater attention in the United States in the early 1990s.

A matchmaker who organized the 2009 fight in New Hampshire, Gary Marino, said he remembered Todashev from the Wai Kru gym and the weigh-in before the bout.

“I remember that kid, the way he looked at me was weird, he kind of looked right through you,” Marino said. “He was very quiet but he kind of looked right through you like he didn’t know what you were talking about.”

Palmquist also trained MMA fighter Evan Scott, who fought Todashev in his last sanctioned amateur MMA bout. Scott beat the 5-foot-9, 160-pound Todashev with an armbar submission in the second round.

“You get a fair mix of guys who come from solid backgrounds, and then you get guys who probably shouldn’t be fighting already but just kind of jump in there,” Palmquist said. “He was definitely a pretty good amateur fighter. He definitely came from some kind of wrestling background.”

Todashev fought a total of six sanctioned amateur matches, winning four and losing two, according to his official MMA record. He fought one unsanctioned amateur bout in February 2012, and one sanctioned professional bout in July of that year, winning both.

Todashev applied for a mixed martial arts license with the Florida State Boxing Commision on July 26, 2012. On an application for a national MMA identification card filed on the same day, he wrote that he had four years of experience in the sport. The Florida license was issued in August 2012 and expired in December of that year, according to the state department of business and professional regulation.

He spent at least some of that time training at The Jungle MMA and Fitness, a gym that bills itself as “Central Florida’s Premier Spot” for MMA training. He did not fight any matches through the gym, according to staff there.

AP Photo / Orange County Corrections Department

In this May 4, 2013 police mug provided by the Orange County Corrections Department in Orlando, Fla., shows Ibragim Todashev after his arrest for aggravated battery in Orlando. Todashev, who was being questioned in Orlando by authorities in the Boston bombing probe, was fatally shot Wednesday, May 22, 2013 when he initiated a violent confrontation, FBI officials said.

“He was here for about maybe two months about a year and a half ago,” said gym manager John Morehouse.

Todashev was “pretty unmemorable,” Morehouse said. “You know, your basic guy, come in, take a class. I don’t think he had any friends here.”

Law enforcement sources have said Todashev had two prior run-ins with the law and had confessed to involvement in a 2011 triple murder before he was shot. People familiar with MMA said if he did have a violent past, it’s not typical of the sport’s practitioners. Most amateur and professional fighters are no more violent outside the ring than anyone else, they said.

Mark Tullius fell into the world of amateur MMA after graduating with a degree in sociology from Brown University. After being active in the sport from 1998 to 2002, Tullius abandoned it because he was “turned off by the violence,” he said. Over the past year, he has traveled to 15 states and interviewed more than 250 mixed martial arts fighters to figure out what makes them tick.

“Ninety-five to 97 percent of them are just awesome people,” Tullius said of the fighters and their coaches.

“I think when a lot of people go to the gym, they’re looking for something they’re missing,” Tullis said. “There are lots of different kinds of fighters. Lots of today’s fighters are wrestlers who are just super competitive and are looking for another way to compete.”

While pro MMA matches are regulated, amateur competition often goes on with little oversight, according to Gregory Sirb, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission and former president of the Association of Boxing Commissions. Amateur mixed martial arts competitions are banned in West Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Colorado, and North Dakota, according to the ABC. Bouts at the amateur level go on completely unregulated in 11 states, the organization says.

“It’s horrible,” Sirb said. “For a sport that’s so violent – this sport screams for oversight.”

While amateur match-ups may not be heavily regulated by the states, experienced fighters tend to have their own code of conduct, Tullius said, an ethic Todashev violated in at least two incidents when he appears to have used his fighting abilities well outside the ring.

"Some places will say if you get into a fight you're not training here," Tullius said. "And a professional would not want to do that."

Todashev was arrested in Boston in 2010 after aggressively confronting two women following an accident involving his van and their car, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office told NBC affiliate WHDH. There were no injuries and no charges were pressed, authorities said.

He was arrested a second time this year, for aggravated battery on May 4, after allegedly getting into a fight with a man and his son over a parking space in Orlando, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit. Todashev told officers he was a mixed martial artist before being transported to the booking and release center, according to the affidavit.

“This skill puts his fighting ability way above that of a normal person,” the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit.

Todashev was released the next day on a $3,500 surety bond.

Related:

• Father of slain man linked to Boston bombing suspect maintains son's innocence
• Man with ties to Boston bombing suspect admits role in 2011 murders; shot during FBI questioning

An airport shuttle bus crashed into a tractor-trailer near Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport late Friday morning, injuring at least 16 people, including a child, local hospitals and officials said.

Six patients were transported in fair condition to Atlanta Medical Center, Nicole Gustin, spokesperson for the hospital, said. The vicms included five adults and a child.

Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital received 10 patients, two of whom were in serious condition upon arrival, according to Grady spokesperson Denise Simpson. The other eight had minor injuries.

Atlanta Fire Rescue Department spokeswoman Janet Ward said 18 people had been on the shuttle bus at the time, and said it crashed into the tractor-trailer Friday morning.

NBC News

An airport shuttle bus crashed into a tractor-trailer near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Friday morning.

According to NBC Atlanta affiliate WXIA, the shuttle bus serves hotels north of the airport, and was headed to the airport when the crash happened. 

Hartsfield-Jackson is the busiest airport in the world, averaging nearly 2,500 arrivals and departures per day.

This story was originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 12:09 PM EDT

Nearly 30 New Jersey bars and restaurants have been accused of filling top-shelf liquor bottles with lower-quality hooch, including one establishment that allegedly passed off caramel-colored rubbing alcohol as scotch, state officials said Thursday.

The rotgut roundup, dubbed “Operation Swill,” targeted 29 establishments and involved more than 100 investigators, Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa and Division of Alcohol and Beverage Control Director Michael Halfacre said.

The investigators seized about 1,000 opened bottles of premium liquors like Tanqueray gin, Johnny Walker Black scotch and Smirnoff vodka on Wednesday.

“This alleged scheme is a dishonest ruse to increase profits, and it is a slap in the face to the consumer,” Chiesa said in a news release. “Consumers should have the peace of mind knowing that they will get what they spent their hard-earned money on every single time – no exceptions.”

A customer of the Blackthorn Restaurant in Parsippany, one of the establishments named by authorities, said she thinks she was always served the poison she picked.

“I see them pour it,” Danielle Ferrazzano told NBC New York. “There’s my Captain and Coke, whatever it is I drink. I was fine with it. I never suspected anything.”

“Operation Swill” began after the state began receiving an influx of complaints about beverages that might have been mislabeled, Halfacre said, and got a boost when an informant with industry knowledge came forward in the fall.

AP Photo / Julio Cortez

Funnels confiscated during an investigation dubbed "Operation Swill," in which 29 bars and restaurants in New Jersey are accused of putting cheap booze in premium brand liquor bottles and selling it, are seen during a news conference, Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Trenton, N.J.

Investigators took covert drink samples from the establishments in the course of the year-long probe, which included 13 TGI Friday's restaurants, authorities said.

The accusations were “isolated to one group of franchised restaurants,” TGI Friday's corporate offices said.

“If accurate, they would represent a violation of our company’s values and our extensive bar and beverage standards which are designed to deliver the highest guest experience in our restaurants,” the company said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for actions that undermine the trust of our guests and call into question the reputation we have built up over the past 48 years.”

The president of the Briad Group, which operates the 13 TGI Friday's franchises, called the allegations “troubling and surprising.”

“We have already begun our own investigation to learn if any of these allegations are true. If they are, we will take immediate steps to correct any issues that may have led to less than a 100 percent quality experience for our guests,” Briad president Rick Barbrick said in a statement, according to the Star-Ledger.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

Mourners leave a funeral service for Antonia Candelaria, 9, a student at Towers Plaza Elementary school who was killed by Monday's tornado Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Funerals for two more children killed when a tornado hit Plaza Towers elementary school in Moore, Okla., will be held on Friday, school officials in the town said.

They were among the seven 8- and 9-year olds who perished as the storm tore through the elementary school. Another student from Plaza Towers, Antonia Candelaria, was mourned on Thursday at a memorial service.

“She was a beautiful young lady on the inside and out,” said an obituary for Candelaria published in The Oklahoman newspaper. “She had her own most special and beautiful way of looking at the world. She could find the positive, good and joy in everything.”

A funeral service for another student killed at the school will be held on Saturday, according to school officials. Families have requested no media coverage.

Thursday was the last day of school for the town devastated by the storm that claimed two dozen lives, injured more than 300 people and severely damaged or destroyed more than a thousand homes.

Students from Briarwood Elementary, which was also caught in the storm’s path, met with their teachers on Thursday at another local school, NBC News affiliate KFOR reported.

“I’m actually pretty happy. It will be good for me,” Briarwood third grader Brianna Roper said before seeing her teachers and classmates for the first time since Monday.

The town will hold a public memorial service on Sunday evening at First Baptist Church that will be “open to all,” Gov. Mary Fallin said. President Obama is scheduled to visit Moore and survey the destruction earlier Sunday.

School officials have resolved to get all of the suburb’s students back to class in the fall.

“We will rebuild and we will reopen and we will have school in August,” city school superintendent Susan Pierce said.

Related:

• Okla. funeral held for 'precious' 9-year-old who died with best friend
• Tornado-ravaged city of Moore, Okla. to hold Sunday memorial
• Chaos and courage as tornado wrecks elementary schools

Slideshow: Tornadoes ravage Plains

Scott Olson / Getty Images

A monster tornado hit Moore, Okla., Monday afternoon, leaving at least 24 dead.

Launch slideshow

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- Seen as a small step toward a greater goal or a wrong step for a century-old organization, a vote Thursday to lift a ban on gay youth in the Boy Scouts won't end the debate.

Over 61 percent of Scouting's National Council of 1,232 delegates from across the country voted to lift the ban during the Boy Scouts of America’s annual national gathering. The policy change will go into effect Jan. 1, 2014.

"This has been a challenging chapter in our history," said Wayne Brock, the BSA's chief Scout executive. "Our goal through all of this was to put the kids first."

What was not considered Thursday was lifting a ban on gay Scout leaders.

"We have not changed our adult membership standards. They have served us well for the last 100 years. Those were not on the table," said Tico Perez, BSA national commissioner.

And so while the nation’s approximately 116,000 Scouting units and 3 million members officially must open their doors to gay youth, a push to change those adult membership standards will resume.

"One day, we'll be back, and I'm not going to stop until we're there," said Ohio mom Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted in April 2012 as den leader of her son's Tiger Cub pack because she is a lesbian.

"Tomorrow, we're going to start the next phase, and I'm ready."

Some opponents of ending the ban said they would pull their sponsorships of packs and troops, and parents threatened to take their boys out of Scouting.

Rusty Tisdale, assistant Scoutmaster for a troop in Ellisville, Miss., hopes there is a local option that would allow the decision on gay members to be made at the troop level. Otherwise, he will pull his kids.

"I'm not happy as a parent," Tisdale emailed to NBC News. "The gay activist isn't happy and will not be until homosexuals can be leaders, etc. So there will be more pressure, and more fighting, And more acquiescence. No thanks."

"There are other activities for my kids to do," he added. "There are other organizations that I can support with my time and money."

The ban on gay Scouts has been the subject of much soul-searching in the organization – from local troops and councils to national board meetings. The dispute was even heard by the Supreme Court, which said 13 years ago that as a private membership organization, the BSA was free to decide who it would admit.

Last summer, the Boy Scouts reaffirmed their anti-gay policy after a two-year examination by a committee. Since then, some local chapters had been pushing for a reconsideration.

More than 70 percent of Boy Scout units are sponsored by religious groups, and this compromise proposal has split them. One of the Southern Baptist Church leaders, Dr. Frank Page, last week implored the Boy Scouts not to change the policy. But The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints – the BSA's biggest charter partner – had given tacit endorsement to the plan.

BSA President Wayne Perry said the vote came after an "extensive," "exhaustive," and "respectful" dialogue among the members of the organization.

"It's a very difficult decision for a lot of people, but we are moving forward together," he said. "Our vision is to serve every kid."

Pascal Tessier, a gay 16-year-old from Kensington, Md., felt hopeful after the vote. He believes he can get his Eagle rank — the Scouts' highest honor — in the fall.

"There are a lot of things going through my head," he said. "The initial reaction is ecstatic because I can go home and tell everyone that I'm still a Boy Scout."

But he said he also felt bad for gay leaders.

Related:

AP / Francisco Rodriguez

A man is seen sitting atop a car that fell into the Skagit River after the collapse of the Interstate 5, Thursday.

A driver said he thought he was about to die when an Interstate 5 bridge span collapsed in Washington state, plunging his pickup and another car into the Skagit River below.

Dan Sligh, his wife and another motorist found themselves waist-deep in water when the freeway crumbled moments after the bridge was clipped by an oversized truck, he told NBC affiliate KING5 of Seattle.

State officials said the rescue had been “amazing” and warned of major traffic disruption following the complete closure of the section of the road, near Mount Vernon.

Sligh, a Command Master Chief Petty Officer with the U.S. Navy, said the accident was “like a Hollywood movie unfolding in front of your eyes - up close and personal.”

He said he managed to release his seat belt and climb out of his mangled truck to shallower water, despite fearing he had dislocated his shoulder.

His wife also escaped, and was being kept in the Skagit Valley hospital where she was being treated for internal bleeding.

"I thought we were done," Sligh told KING5 outside the hospital late Thursday. “When I look at all the carnage, all the metal, I assumed that was it at that point. But here we stand."

The couple waited 90 minutes on the roof of pickup awaiting rescue, he said, adding that the other driver was not seriously injured.

“I’m OK. I’m beat up. I feel like I rode a rodeo bull or something.”

I-5 is the main freeway that runs up and down the West Coast between the Canadian and Mexican borders, and traffic was significantly backed up in both directions overnight.

The bridge collapse was caused by an oversize truck that hit an overhead span, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste said at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. The driver of the truck was cooperating with investigators, Batiste said.

“I’m thankful there were no fatalities,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. "This is an opportunity for us to pull together to show strength of character and patience and good citizenship as we deal with this disruption."

The 1,112-foot steel truss bridge, built in 1955, was described by the Washington State Department of Transportation, after an inspection in August 2010, as "somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being left in place as is."

Diversions have been set up and plans are already underway to install a replacement span, said Bart Treece, a spokesman for the department, describing the lack of more serous injuries as “amazing”.

The section of the freeway carries 71,000 vehicles a day, he said, warning significant delays were likely over the Memorial Weekend.

“If you can reduce trips or take another route, that would help,” he said.

The minimum vertical clearance on the bridge (distance from the road to something a truck can bump into) is 14.5 feet. The standard height is 16 feet.

Inslee's statement added: "We will be involved in a vigorous and diligent effort to get traffic flowing again through the Skagit bridge corridor and I will issue an emergency proclamation [Friday] to make sure we have the resources to do so as quickly as possible."

State inspection reports submitted to the Federal Highway Administration were reviewed by NBC News. That overall evaluation of the structural condition on the bridge corresponds to a score of 5 on a scale from 0 (worst) to 9 (best).

The bridge received identical scores on inspections in 2010, 2008 and 2006, and is on a schedule for inspection every 24 months, as generally required by federal regulations. State officials said Thursday evening they were working to make public a copy of the latest inspection report, presumably from 2012.

The bridge was of a "fracture critical" design, as are 18,000 bridges nationwide, meaning it could collapse if even one part failed.

Even after the bridge collapse that killed 13 people in Minneapolis in 2007, a haphazard system of inspections continued, with federal authorities choosing not to require re-inspection of all the fracture-critical bridges.

In a survey of every state by msnbc.com in 2008, only six states and the District of Columbia said they began to recheck all their fracture-critical bridges.

Officials in Washington state, like in most states, said they performed special inspections of only their few dozen bridges of the particular deck-truss design used in Minneapolis.

The bridge that fell Thursday did go on to receive its regular inspections in 2008 and 2010, according to the federal records, called the National Bridge Inventory.

NBC News' Andrew Rafferty and Justin Kirschner contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 7:15 AM EDT

Memorial Day weekend is expected to feel more like “winter” for areas of the eastern U.S., according to forecasters at weather.com, with snow possible for parts of the Northeast.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for parts of Massachusetts and Texas early Friday as much of the country continued to be hit by miserable weather. The warnings are only issued when there is the potentially for “rapid” and “life threatening” flooding.

The Tri-State area was also hit by heavy rainfall and thunderstorms through the night, NBCNewYork.com reported.

Get more from weather.com

A house in Glen Rock, New Jersey, was hit by lightning, sending a couple running outside.

“It sounded like an explosion,” one resident of the house told NBCNewYork.com. The strike went through the house’s alarm system. “Pieces of plastic hit me in the back of the head and I turned around … the alarm panel blew out of the wall.”

Some areas of the Tri-State saw as much as 3 to 4 inches of rain by Thursday night.

In Connecticut, storms brought down trees in Waterbury and there were floods in Danbury, NBCConnecticut.com reported.

Weather.com said that while the Memorial Day weekend was supposed to mark the start of the summer season “unfortunately for parts of the East, it won't feel anything like summer. In fact, a few locales may refer to it as winter.”

“Low pressure is expected to wrap-up and crawl northward along the coast of New England late Friday into Sunday,” weather.com reported.

“As a result, most residents from New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and eastern New York to Maine will see a wet start to the weekend on Saturday,” it added. “The rain will continue over much of New England southward to near or just north of New York City right into Sunday.”

And weather.com said it could even get cold enough to see snow at higher altitudes in northern New York, northern Vermont, northern New Hampshire and northern Maine.

It said high temperatures were expected to be in the 50s and 60s from Pennsylvania and New York to New England both Saturday and Sunday.

In the Southeast, weather.com said it would be unseasonably cold with “near-record low temperatures” in Asheville, N.C., Nashville, Tenn., and Greenville, S.C., on Saturday morning in the 40s and low 50s.

Thunderstorms could hit Tennessee on Sunday, and parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia on Memorial Day, Weather.com warned.

There would also be a threat of thunderstorm over the holiday weekend from the Plains into the middle and upper Mississippi Valleys.

The Northwest could see showers through the weekend, while dry weather was expected to prevail in the Southwest.

A preliminary 5.7 earthquake struck in Northern California on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. 

The epicenter of the quake was centered 6 miles west northwest of Greenville, and 26 miles southwest of Susanville.

Initial reports said the quake, which struck at 8:47 p.m., was a magnitude 5.9.

A 5.7 magnitude quake is considered moderate, but has the potential to cause considerable damage.

Chief meteorologist Mark Finan at NBC affiliate KCRA said the quake was felt at the station's studios in downtown Sacramento, about 145 miles south of the epicenter.

There was no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Taylor Linden

Cars and people are in the Skagit River at the scene of an I-5 bridge collapse near Mt. Veron, Wash.

Three people were rescued from water after a bridge along Interstate-5 in Washington State collapsed on Thursday evening, plunging cars into Skagit River below, according to Washington State Patrol.

The extent of the injuries for the three is unclear, but all were evaluated on scene and were transported to area hospitals, according to Marcus Deyerin of the Washington Incident Management Team. Authorities say they have no reason to believe any others are still in the river.

“I’m thankful there were no fatalities,” said Wash. Governor Jay Inslee in a statement. “Witnesses say a truck hit the bridge and caused it to collapse, but an investigation has been launched to confirm that."

I-5 is the main freeway that runs along the West Coast, and NBC Seattle affiliate KING5 reported that traffic was significantly backed up in both directions.

Two vehicles were submerged in the after the bridge fell around 7 p.m. local time (10 p.m. EDT), and traffic has been closed in both directions.

A witnesses told KING5 that an oversized truck hit the upper right side of the bridge before the collapse.

The minimum vertical clearance on the bridge (distance from the road to something a truck can bump into) is 14.5 feet. The standard height is 16 feet.

This I-5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon was described by the Washington State Department of Transportation, after an inspection in August 2010, as "somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being left in place as is."

Inslee's statement added: "We will be involved in a vigorous and diligent effort to get traffic flowing again through the Skagit bridge corridor and I will issue an emergency proclamation [Friday] to make sure we have the resources to do so as quickly as possible.

"This is an opportunity for us to pull together to show strength of character and patience and good citizenship as we deal with this disruption."

State inspection reports submitted to the Federal Highway Administration were reviewed by NBC News. That overall evaluation of the structural condition on the bridge corresponds to a score of 5 on a scale from 0 (worst) to 9 (best).

The bridge received identical scores on inspections in 2010, 2008 and 2006, and is on a schedule for inspection every 24 months, as generally required by federal regulations. State officials said Thursday evening they were working to make public a copy of the latest inspection report, presumably from 2012.

Looking at specific areas of the bridge, the substructure (piers, abutments, footings, piles, etc.) was described as in satisfactory condition, with the superstructure (beams, girders, stringers, trusses, cables, pins, hangers, etc.) in somewhat worse condition, listed as fair, according to the inspection data online from the Federal Highway Administration. "Fair" meant that all primary structural elements were sound but may have minor defects.

The 1,112-foot steel truss bridge was built in 1955, and was carrying an average daily traffic of 71,000 vehicles.

The bridge was of a "fracture critical" design, as are 18,000 bridges nationwide, meaning it could collapse if even one part failed.

Even after the bridge collapse that killed 13 people in Minneapolis in 2007, a haphazard system of inspections continued, with federal authorities choosing not to require re-inspection of all the fracture-critical bridges.

In a survey of every state by msnbc.com in 2008, only six states and the District of Columbia said they began to recheck all their fracture-critical bridges.

Gina Cole / Skagit Valley Herald

North end of the I-5 bridge over Skagit River collapsed Thursday night.

Officials in Washington state, like in most states, said they performed special inspections of only their few dozen bridges of the particular deck-truss design used in Minneapolis.

The bridge that fell Thursday did go on to receive its regular inspections in 2008 and 2010, according to the federal records, called the National Bridge Inventory.

Bill Dedman of NBC News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 12:12 AM EDT

Jurors in the high-profile Jodi Arias trial on Thursday failed to reach an agreement over whether she should receive the death penalty for killing her ex-boyfriend.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens called for a retrial in the penalty phase after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. The new jury will be impaneled on July 18, unless the prosecutor decides to no longer seek the death penalty and agrees to a life sentence.

Stephens, visibly disappointed by the news that the marathon 5-month trial would need to continue further, told the jury, "This was not your typical trial. You were asked to perform some very difficult duties."

Earlier this month Arias was found guilty for the brutal murder of her former boyfriend, 30-year-old Travis Alexander. His body was found slumped in the shower of his Phoenix-area home in June 2008. He was stabbed 27 times, had his throat slashed and was shot in the face.

On Wednesday, jurors told the judge that they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, but Stephens directed the eight men and four women to continue deliberations.

Under Arizona law, if the new jury is seated and also cannot come to an agreement on sentencing, the judge would then decide whether Arias will spend life in prison or have the eligibility of parole after 25 years. A judge cannot sentence Arias to death.

After news of the hung jury, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said in a statement, "We appreciate the jury's work in the guilt and aggravation phases of the trial and now we will assess, based upon available information, what the next steps will be."

Arias has contradicted herself publicly, at first saying she wants to die and then pleading for her life.

Following the guilty verdict, the 32-year-old told a local radio station that she would rather die than spend the rest of her life in jail. She then took to the stand on Tuesday to plead with the jury to spare her life, saying she never meant to cause her victim's family pain and that she would contribute to society if her life was spared.

“This is the worst mistake of my life. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done,” Arias said. “To this day, I can hardly believe I was capable of such violence.”

Just hours after she took the stand, she told NBC's TODAY show, “What I receive will be what I deserve, I believe.”

Arias contended that she killed her former lover in self-defense in what was an abusive relationship defined by forced sex and violence. Prosecutors say Arias fell into a jealous rage after Alexander ended the relationship and revealed his involvement with another woman.

The trial and its lurid details of the former couple's sex life, along with Arias' revelations of an abusive childhood and previous romantic failures, captivated the country as it was played out live on television and the Internet.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said in a statement Thursday evening that Arias will no longer be permitted to do media interviews and will remain as a closed custody inmate in a county jail near Phoenix, Ariz.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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