The Associated Press

Crews have blasted a hole in a nearly century-old hydropower dam in Washington's south Cascades today, marking another step in efforts to restore habitat for threatened and endangered fish in the Pacific Northwest.

The Washington Transportation Department says the work that has shut down the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle is on schedule.

WSDOT has published a new round of photos on it's Flickr site.

Spokesman Travis Phelps says the viaduct is scheduled to reopen early Monday. He said Wednesday it's unlikely the work would wrap up ahead of schedule. Some had hoped it would reopen in time for Sunday's Seahawks game in CenturyLink Field.

Spokane's version of the Occupy Wall Street protest has dwindled to only a handful of demonstrators, just a few weeks after a march through downtown drew some 300 people.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, Occupy protesters at Westlake Park voted yesterday to move from the park to Seattle Central Community College.

The same day Boeing announced it is employing more than 80,000 workers in Washington for the first time in nearly a dozen years, Sen. Maria Cantwell said the state needs 21,000 more educated and trained workers to fill jobs in the aviation industry in the next decade.

A national initiative to improve access to the outdoors will focus on expanding two trails in Washington state.

President Barack Obama's Great Outdoors Initiative includes efforts to extend the Pacific Northwest Trail on the Olympic Peninsula and create a water trail along the entire length of the Columbia River through Washington.

The Monday morning commute in Seattle was congested but moving slowly as drivers dealt with "Viadoom," the closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, one of the city's main north-south highways.

The Rat City Rollergirls and a motorcycle stunt team will be taking over the Alaskan Way Viaduct for half an hour Saturday before demolition begins on the Seattle elevated highway.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington agency that processes unemployment claims is planning layoffs of their own. The Employment Security Department issued notice Friday that it will cut 222 jobs in January.

RICHLAND, Wash. — A Hanford worker was taken for a ride in a portable toilet when it was picked up by a fork lift driver who didn't realize it was occupied.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Congress has approved more summer activities at ski areas on federal lands.

The Bellingham Herald reports the Ski Area Recreational Opportunity Enhancement Act the cleared the Senate Tuesday will allow ski areas to be used for more than winter sports.

Police say a man with a rifle and 16 rounds of ammunition was arrested Monday night by officers assigned to the Occupy Seattle demonstration at Westlake Park.

SEATTLE — Jermaine Magnuson, the widow of U.S. Sen. Warren Magnuson, has died at her Seattle home at the age of 87.

KENT, Wash. — A Burien teen who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shooting his girlfriend was sentenced Monday in Kent to 13 years in prison.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A federal judge is ordering the public disclosure of signature petitions that forced a vote on a 2009 domestic partnership law.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle said in a ruling Monday that it was unlikely that signers would face threats or harassment.

Superheroes are no longer just in comic books or on movie screens. The patrolling of city streets by "real life super-heroes" has been getting more popular.

That's thanks largely to mainstream attention in movies and the recent HBO documentary "Superheroes."