Fatal crash and historic school mistakenly demolished among TNT’s top stories
Pierce County saw a fatal freeway crash, a new federal civil-rights investigation and fresh fallout from two property disputes Tuesday. Here’s a quick roundup of the day’s biggest local stories. • A fatal vehicle collision at 4:21 p.m. Tuesday fully blocked the ramp from 31st Avenue and State Route 161 to westbound State Route 512 in Puyallup, closing two lanes of SR 512 and snarling the afternoon commute. The Washington State Department of Transportation said traffic was getting by slowly in the left lane and warned of lengthy lane and ramp closures, with state trooper Kameron Watts saying the crash dynamics were still under investigation.
• The U.S. Department of Justice opened a civil-rights investigation into the Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor, alleging the state failed to protect female prisoners from sexual and physical violence by “male prisoners who identify as female.” The women’s prison houses 20 transgender people out of an average daily population of 726, and the probe follows at least three ongoing lawsuits against the Department of Corrections by women who say they were attacked by the same inmate.
• Parks Tacoma has told the Tacoma Yacht Club to return Breakwater Marina vacant by Oct. 1, 2026, displacing 120 boat tenants and liveaboards near the Point Defiance Ferry Terminal. Tenants say there’s nowhere to go: Nearby Foss Landing has a three-year wait list for boat parking and an eight-year wait for liveaboards, and the Tacoma Yacht Club disputes that it’s responsible for evicting the subtenants.
• Crews demolished more than half of the 111-year-old Alderton School near Orting after Pierce County mistakenly issued a demolition permit in March 2026 for the brick schoolhouse and gym built in 1915. A stop-work order was posted May 19 after a county employee flagged the error, and officials said they are strengthening permitting safeguards for properties on the historic register.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by senior editor Adam Lynn. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.