(WSP Photos)

Washington State Patrol is reporting that State Route 25 near milepost 72 is closed due to a mudslide. The slide is located 12 miles out of Kettle Falls. The road is partially blocked while authorities work on the situation. Drivers are asked to use caution as the mud slide is partially blocking the road. A front end loader was brought in and drivers can continue through the route.

For more updates follow:

@WSDOT_East
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(By Brandon Hansen/Chewelah Independent)

Mt. St. Helen’s sits quietly before sunset in Southwest Washington in 2015. (Photo by Brandon Hansen)

Eruption of Mt. St. Helen’s remembered 37 years later…

Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980 and resulted in the death of over 50 people.

Located 96 miles south of Seattle, 50 miles northeast of Portland, she sits without her crown but still dominates the landscape.

Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980 and killed 57 people while also causing $1.1 billion in property damage. It was the worst volcanic eruption in US history and the first since 1915 when Lassen Peak erupted in California.

It almost killed one person from Chewelah and another was on Mt. Adams and saw the event unfold in front of him.

For two months, a series of earthquakes and steam-venting episodes announced that something was happening to the mountain – which before had been a picture-esque peak in Southwestern Washington.

An injection of magma began causing a large bulge on the mountain’s north slope. At 8:32 a.m. the entire north face slide away in the largest landslide ever recorded and allowed all the molten rock and high-pressure gas to erupt northwards. A column of ash rose 80,000 feet and eleven states – along with five Canadian providences – would receive material from the eruption.

Chewelah, a seven-and-a-half hour drive away from the mountain was certainly safe from the immediate disaster – but then it started to rain ash.  More

(By Staff Reports) 

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been appointed as a special investigator of Russia-Trump ties in a federal investigation.

Former FBI Director tabbed to investigate Trump-Russia ties…

The Justice Department has appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead a federal investigation into allegations of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign collaborating with Russia to sway the 2016 election, the Associated Press is reporting.

The announcement was made by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein – who made the appointment – and the White House was informed only after the order appointing Mueller was signed.

President Trump released a statement saying there were no ties between his campaign and Russia.

Mueller is a former federal prosecutor for the Justice Department and was appointed as FBI Director days before Sept. 11, 2001 under President Bush. President Obama asked him to stay on two years longer than his ten year term before Comey succeeded him.

The Associated Press reported that House Speaker Paul Ryan supported the thorough and independent investigation. Utah Republican house rep Jason Chaffetz – who just announced his resignation on Wednesday – said Meuller was a great selection.

The special prosecutor appointment comes after a week that saw Trump give classified information to Russian officials, fire FBI Director James Comey and have stories swirl about how Trump told Comey to lay off investigating former National Security Advisor Matt Flynn.