It happened about 7 p.m. Thursday on the north part of the four-lane Interstate 5 bridge near Mount Vernon, about 60 miles north of Seattle and 40 miles south of the Canada border, and disrupted travel in both directions.

Initially, it wasn't clear if the bridge just gave way on its own. But at an overnight news conference, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste blamed it on a tractor-trailer carrying an oversize load that hit an upper part of the span. The vertical clearance from the roadway to the beam is 14.6 feet.

"For reasons unknown at this point in time, the semi struck the overhead of the bridge causing the collapse," Batiste said.

The truck made it off the bridge and the driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. Authorities have not yet said what the truck was carrying.

Two other vehicles went into the water about 25 feet below as the structure crumbled. Three people were rescued and were recovering Friday.

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The case of USA v. Johnny Reid Edwards contains six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements. The indictment was returned in the Middle District of North Carolina Friday.

An Edwards spokeswoman said she wasn't aware of the filing and declined immediate comment.

The indictment is the culmination of a federal investigation that lasted more than two years and scoured through virtually every corner of Edwards' political career.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Criminal charges were likely to be filed Friday against John Edwards, the culmination of a two-year federal investigation into money used to cover up an extramarital affair during the 2008 presidential election.

Edwards' attorney Greg Craig was traveling to meet with prosecutors in North Carolina, an indication that the former presidential candidate will likely be charged, either in a grand jury indictment or in a negotiated charge to which he would plead guilty.

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Edwards' attorney Greg Craig was traveling to meet with prosecutors in North Carolina, an indication that the former presidential candidate will likely be charged, either in a grand jury indictment or in a negotiated charge to which he would plead guilty.

A person with knowledge of the investigation said Craig, a Washington lawyer who was President Barack Obama's first White House counsel, planned to be in his client's home state Friday, where prosecutors were prepared to file charges. The source insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the private negotiations.

Prosecutors have told Edwards they will charge him Friday but plea negotiations continue, so a grand jury indictment or deal on a negotiated charge are both still possible, the person said.

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Emergency crews searched for victims in hard-hit swaths of North Carolina, where 62 tornadoes were reported from the worst spring storm in two decades to hit the state. Ten people were confirmed dead in Bertie County, county manager Zee Lamb said. At least three deaths were reported in Virginia. Authorities warned the toll was likely to rise further Sunday as searchers probed shattered homes and businesses.

The storm claimed its first lives Thursday night in Oklahoma, then roared through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Seven people each were killed in Arkansas and Alabama, two people in Oklahoma and one person in Mississippi, authorities have said.

In North Carolina, Gov. Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency after reporting fatalities in at least four counties. But she declined to immediately confirm an exact number of deaths. She said the 62 tornadoes reported were the most since March 1984, when a storm system spawned 22 twisters in the Carolinas that killed 57 people -- 42 in North Carolina -- and injured hundreds.

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Medical examiners said Zahra's death was caused by "undetermined homicidal violence." An autopsy was done even though authorities haven't recovered many bones, most notably the girl's skull, months after she was reported missing. Several bones showed cutting tool marks consistent with dismemberment.

The revelation came in documents released by the state's chief medical examiner shortly after officials in western North Carolina held a news conference about the second-degree murder charge. Authorities said Elisa Baker, who has been jailed since the weekend the girl was reported missing, desecrated Zahra's remains to cover up the slaying.

Prosecutor James Gaither Jr. said at the news conference that there was no credible evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in Zahra's slaying. Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins called the murder charge "a milestone of holding someone accountable that members of team Zahra have been working toward since the first words spoken on that 911 call."

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U.S. District Judge James C. Fox said court-ordered arbitration fell apart because neither side was paying the costs of that process, so he decided to shut the case nearly seven years after the killings. Katy Helvenston, the mother of contractor Scott Helvenston, said Tuesday the families couldn't afford the costs, and she fears the case is over. The lawsuit was filed about a year after the men's deaths.

"It's pretty much destroyed my life," Helvenston said. "I haven't known one moment of joy since Scotty was slaughtered. I think the worst party is the betrayal from my country. I feel so betrayed."

Insurgents killed the four contractors, then mutilated the bodies, dragged the charred remains through the streets and hung two of the corpses from a bridge. Images from the scene were relayed around the world, and the event triggered a massive U.S. military siege known as the Battle of Fallujah.

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Filings collected from the nation's 90 bankruptcy districts showed 113,000 bankruptcies in December, down 3 percent nationwide from the same month a year ago. That followed a similar year-over-year decline for the the month of October. It had been four years since an individual month showed such an improvement.

In total, the nation recorded 1.55 million filings in 2010, an increase of 8 percent from 2009 and a far slower growth rate than the 32 percent jump recorded in the year before and the 33 percent jump the year before that.

At the law firm Mayer & Newton in Knoxville, Tenn., staff members continue to work six days a week to handle the massive bankruptcy caseload. But filings there have leveled off, and partner John Newton said the firm decided it did not need to replace an attorney that left about a year ago.

He said the economy in Tennessee, while still challenging, appears to be more stable than other parts of the country. And he said many of the people who need relief from their debts have already gone through the bankruptcy process.

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Freeman said in a statement through his publicist Monday that he never recorded any ads for North Carolina candidate B.J. Lawson and that he does not support Lawson's candidacy. Lawson is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. David Price.

The advertisement features a narrator with a voice that resembles Freeman's. The narrator concludes, "It's time that you and I had a voice in Washington. Vote B.J. Lawson for Congress."

Lawson and campaign manager Martin Avila initially said Freeman did the ad. Avila later backed off that claim, saying the campaign had a contract signed for a Freeman ad with Los Angeles-based agency M.E.I. Political. The agency did not return a call seeking comment.

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At first light, 1 to 2 feet of water covered roads in the community of Buxton on Cape Hatteras, pushing around plywood, a convenience store ice cooler, a garbage bin and other debris. A Jeep driving down the road had water up to its headlights.

North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said there was no serious damage and urged people to get back out for the Labor Day weekend to "have a little fun and spend some money."

Earl arrived a less menacing storm than it was just a day earlier. By the time it sideswiped North Carolina, its winds had dropped to 105 mph from 145 mph. And at its closest approach, its center passed about 85 miles east of Cape Hatteras -- up to 50 miles farther out than forecasters feared.

"Swiping the coast was always better than coming ashore," said Mark Van Sciver of the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center. "We're very grateful that the brunt of the storm passed us by."

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The hurricane's leading edge brought on-and-off light rain in the afternoon to the long ribbon of barrier islands, which were expected to get the brunt of the storm around midnight. Heavy surf was already washing over the only highway on Hatteras Island before sundown but crews were able to keep the road open.

Earl's arrival could mark the start of at least 24 hours of stormy, windy weather along the East Coast. During its march up the Atlantic, it could snarl travelers' Labor Day weekend plans and strike a second forceful blow to the vacation homes and cottages on Long Island, Nantucket Island and Cape Cod.

It was unclear exactly how close Earl's center and its strongest winds would get to land. But Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said people shouldn't wait for the next forecast to act.

"This is a day of action. Conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly," he said.

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A hurricane warning for the tip of Massachusetts, including Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, joined earlier warnings and watches for hurricanes or tropical storms that stretch from North Carolina up to near the Canadian border.

Earl was a dangerous category 4 storm with no significant change in strength forecast before it comes close to the Outer Banks late Thursday, then turns north in rough parallel to the coast, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The center's director, Bill Read, said the eye of the storm will likely remain about 30 to 75 miles east of the Outer Banks. At the closest point of approach, the western edge of the eye wall could impact Cape Hatteras, with huge waves, beach erosion and maybe some property damage from the waves.

"They're going to have a full impact of a major hurricane," Read said. "Maybe not the strongest winds but a large area of tropical storm force and probably gusts to hurricane force along the islands."

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They also were trying to figure out whether the storm would stay offshore as it tracks up the Northeast coast or bring hurricane-force winds to Long Island, the Boston metropolitan area and Cape Cod.

Tourists were largely gone from North Carolina's Outer Banks, but those residents who stayed behind said they were prepared to face down the powerful hurricane.

"There is still concern that this track, the core of the storm, could shift a little farther to the west and have a very significant impact on the immediate coastline. Our present track keeps it off shore, but you never know," National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a tropical storm warning early Thursday for the coast of Long Island in New York and a hurricane watch was issued for areas of Massachusetts. A hurricane warning was already in effect for the coast of North Carolina.

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Edwards says in the updated version of her book released Tuesday that she spent two years trying to "reinvent" her role as a wife so that they could stay together despite the affair. But she says the "tender thread" holding the family together unraveled at the very end of 2009 -- three years after John Edwards first told his wife in private that he'd had a one-night stand with a videographer.

"One day, I did not want to try anymore," she said.

The couple has since separated and he acknowledged fathering a child with mistress Rielle Hunter during his 2008 campaign for the White House. The 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee also acknowledged a federal investigation into his campaign funds, with former campaign aide Andrew Young saying a grand jury asked questions about money used to keep Hunter in hiding during the presidential race.

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The delay may have cost critical seconds. When Pleasant and his co-workers at rig owner Transocean finally got the go-ahead to throw the so-called deadman's switch, they realized there was no hydraulic power to operate the machinery.

Five weeks after the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers, the blown-out well continues to gush oil, pouring at least 7 million gallons of crude into the Gulf.

Dozens of witness statements obtained by The Associated Press show a combination of equipment failure and a deference to the chain of command impeded the system that should have stopped the gusher before it became an environmental disaster.

On Wednesday, BP launched its latest bid to plug the well, force-feeding it heavy drilling mud in a technique known as a top kill. Officials said it could be days before they know if it worked, and President Barack Obama cautioned there are "no guarantees."

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The oil giant's chief executive earlier gave the procedure a 60 to 70 percent chance of working, and President Barack Obama cautioned Wednesday there were "no guarantees."

BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said the company will pump mud for hours, and officials have indicated it may be a couple of days before they know whether the procedure is working. The top kill involves pumping enough mud into the gusher to overcome the flow of oil, and engineers plan to follow it up with cement to try to permanently seal the well.

A live video stream showed pictures of the oil gushing and the blowout preventer, the five-story device the mud was being pumped into. A weak spot in the device could blow under the pressure, causing a brand new leak.

Gene Beck, a petroleum engineering professor at Texas A&M in College Station, said the endeavor would likely fail quickly if the mud could not overcome the pressure of the oil.

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BP said in a news release Wednesday that the "top kill" maneuver has started. The top kill has never before been tried a mile beneath the sea, and company officials say it could be a couple of days before they know whether it is working.

Engineers hope to pump enough mud into the gusher to overcome the flow of the well. Engineers plan to follow up the mud with cement that the company hopes will permanently seal the well.

BP's top executive has pegged the top kill's chance of success at 60 to 70 percent.

Millions of gallons of oil has spewed into the ocean since an April 20 rig explosion.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

COVINGTON, La. (AP) -- Senior managers complained oil giant BP was "taking shortcuts" by replacing heavy drilling fluid with saltwater in the well that blew out, triggering the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to witness statements obtained by The Associated Press.

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The Coast Guard said Wednesday it gave the approval for the "top kill" maneuver after consulting with government scientists. The top kill has never before been tried a mile beneath the sea, and company officials say it could be a couple of days before they know whether it is working.

Engineers hope to pump enough mud into the gusher to overcome the flow of the well. They plan to follow up the mud with cement that the company hopes will permanently seal the well.

Millions of gallons of oil has spewed into the ocean since an April 20 rig explosion.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

COVINGTON, La. (AP) -- Senior managers complained oil giant BP was "taking shortcuts" by replacing heavy drilling fluid with saltwater in the well that blew out, triggering the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to witness statements obtained by The Associated Press.

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Chief Executive Tony Hayward said on NBC's "Today" show he would decide Wednesday morning whether to give the green light for crews to try to choke off the massive leak a mile below the sea by force-feeding it heavy drilling mud and cement. The spill started with an April 20 explosion and fire that sank the oil rig Deepwater Horizon and killed 11 workers.

Testimony ahead of a hearing Tuesday and BP's own internal investigation showed there were warning signs of problems before the blast. One rig worker said managers from rig owner Transocean Ltd. worried that day that BP, which ran the operation, as not taking the right steps to contain the pressure.

Senior Transocean managers complained April 20 that BP was "taking shortcuts" by replacing heavy drilling fluid with seawater in the well, according to sworn testimony by Truitt Crawford, a rig roustabout. BP was leasing the rig and is responsible for stopping the leak and the cleanup.

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The state NAACP filed a complaint against the Wake County school board Friday, arguing that Chairman Ron Margiotta and his allies seem to have "racist attitudes."

"The image of animals out of their cages is covered in the history of racism and ugliness and hatred in this country," said the Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president. "We know what it means."

School board members voted 5-4 at a contentious meeting this week to scrap a county policy of maintaining diversity by assigning students to schools based on their socio-economic backgrounds.

The diversity policy, adopted in 2000 after the county decided to do away with race-based busing, never sat well with suburban parents who argued their children had to go to schools too far from home.

Those suburban parents helped sweep a new school board majority into office in November. Supporters of the busing policy argued that doing away with it would return the county to the days of segregation.

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Bunny Mellon, the widow of banking heir Paul Mellon, began sending checks "for many hundreds of thousands of dollars" hidden in boxes of chocolates, according to "The Politician" by former Edwards aide Andrew Young. The tell-all account describes how Young took the money and used it to keep mistress Rielle Hunter happy, hiding her from the media and a cancer-stricken Elizabeth Edwards.

Young claims the former vice-presidential nominee later said he didn't know anything about the cash even though the two discussed the matter and the cash began arriving soon after Edwards made a call to Mellon.

"The Politician" is due in bookstores Saturday. An advance copy was given to The Associated Press by publisher St. Martin's Press.

The book has received a lot of attention because of its racy details about the affair, the crumbling Edwards marriage and the candidate's efforts to keep the paternity of his child with the mistress hidden. John Edwards finally admitted last week that he was the father of the girl, who is now almost 2 years old.

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