This just in from the city of Lakewood's newsroom

Overnight winds knocked down an aging barn at Fort Steilacoom Park, one that has likely stood for more than a century.

The barn - located east of Waughop Lake - was the most fragile of the park's historic barns and wasn't being used for storage or any other purpose, according to Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director Mary Dodsworth.

It is also located outside of the park's historic barn area and will not impact any current use or operation at the state-owned park, she said.

No one was hurt when the barn collapsed overnight. The City of Lakewood - which this month assumed control of the lease of the 340-acre Fort Steilacoom Park from the State of Washington - erected temporary fencing around the fallen barn and is planning to remove the barn material from the park.

The City will work with Department of Social and Health Services to determine if any of the material should be retained for historical significance.

Dodsworrth said the barn was built on a cement slab, which will be retained for future use.

GRAB A CUP AN DREAD THE MORNING REPORT FOR 2.13.14 >>>

Series of prison breakouts across Iraq have freed hundreds of militants who have joined radical Sunni groups operating in neighboring Syria and in Iraq itself.

Afghanistan released 65 detainees despite evidence that they killed or wounded Afghan and coalition troops, the U.S. military command there announced.

Senior US officials and lawmakers are sending new signals that a fledgling cadre of military spies is a done deal, despite no real substantive public debate.

The top commander in Afghanistan is being asked to explain why his staff attempted to diminish the findings of the government watchdog overseeing billions in construction projects there.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James shared her observations from her visit with airmen across the ICBM community following revelations of a proficiency-test cheating scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

Google's robot army will live in a military hangar.

Odierno pushed back against the idea of downsizing the military because the wars of the past decade were ending, saying it's hard to predict future conflicts.

The federal government may have shut its doors due to weather conditions - but the guards tasked to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier aren't so quick to abandon their posts.

Video of crashed drone hit with rocks by Afghan villagers.

Can you spot the sniper hiding with camouflage in this picture?

Nuclear fusion breakthrough: More energy out than in.

The new movie Mirage Men‘s subtitle is: "How the US government created a myth that took over the world."

The final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars will debut on Netflix.

Speaking of ... Star Wars dresses.

Watch the trailer for Melissa McCarthy's new movie, Tammy.

America's best dine-in movie theaters

Aaaahhhhh...

THURSDAY, FEB. 13 2014 >>>

1. Forget Venus, Venice, Paris or any other word ending in -is that conjures up love-ish ideas: there's no better way to woo a would-be - or current - Valentine than with an evening of arts-related culture. And Mad Hat Tea Company has fired up its popular Valentine's Day arts show where poets, musicians, craftspeople and artists take tea drinkers to the furthest point from the half-off Valentine's bin at Rite Aid. Buy one of the local artists' pieces such as Fred Novak's collage works from 7-10 p.m., gift it to your date - along with a cup of Maureen's Mad Aphrodesiac tea - and you might just net a very warm and snuggly Valentine's night, indeed!

2. Local artist and Pierce College art professor Danella Sydow has eight pieces on display - including graphite on paper and reliefs - in the Fine Arts Gallery. Sydow is the recipient of the Mayor's Award from the Olympia Arts Commission. Check out her work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

3. In case you've been rightly avoiding entertainment news over the past month, LaBeouf has been embroiled in a controversy that began with him completely plagiarizing a Daniel Clowes comic called Justin M. Damiano for a short film he directed. Predictably, LaBeouf was immediately found out once he put the film online, and what has followed has been an exercise in lame, art-school-failure performance art, and acts of privilege and delusion so mind-boggling they'd make Justin Beiber wince. Interested in seeing a young, preciously untainted Shia LaBeouf? His adaptation of the beloved Louis Sachar novel, Holes, will be screened at the Moore Library at 3 p.m. If you hiss every time his dumb face shows up on screen, though, you'll never make it through the movie.

4. There's not much better than sharing something you love from your childhood with the next generation of kids. There's not much worse than beloved literature being remade into something unrecognizable in the name of "modernization." The House at Pooh Corner currently at Olympia Family Theater allows you to revel in your nostalgia - provided your childhood bears were more "fluff and stuff" than gruesome killing machines. There are a couple elements that are new, a pseudo "who's on first" type of schtick with the characters Early and Late and a Christopher Robin who is more petulant than the sweet boy from Milne's and Disney's classic stories. Additions aside, OFT's production is charming, funny and quite adorable. Read Joann Varnell's review of the show, then catch it at 7 p.m.

5. Rudolph Valentino found his definitive screen image in the 1921 rape romance The Sheik, as a dashing desert vagabond who captures a tempestuous English girl. The film was so popular that a brand of prophylactics was named after it, a rare distinction indeed. Did Rudolph Valentino's silent film The Sheik help shape U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East? You decide as you watch the silent flick backed by vocalists Connie Corrick and Hugh Hastings at 7 p.m. in the Washington Center.

LINK: Thursday, Feb. 13 arts and entertainment events in the greater Tacoma and Olympia area

Stories and photos of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 7th Infantry Division's recent training exercises at the National Training Center has been popping up on the Internets more than photos of heart shaped food. And why not, the 3-2 SBCT out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord were involved in severasl first at NTC, including bilateral training with Japanese soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 1st Company, 1st Mechanized Battalion, from Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan (that's a mouthful!).

Staff Sgt. Christopher McCullough with the 3-2 SBCT, was one the scene with soldiers from 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which in conjunction with Task Force Arrowhead, shared operational tactics with their Japanese counterparts.

"We had eight Abrams tanks out there to mentor the Japanese and work with them in terms of armored formations and tank maneuvers in the desert," Capt. Christopher Walgren, Chief of Operations for 3-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division, told McCullough.

"This is the very first time for the Japanese Ground Defense Forces," said Maj. Yoshinoki Adachi, of Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, company commander for 1-1 BN (Mech), JGDF. "The coordination with the U.S. Army was impressive because the language was different ... yet we can fight alongside the U.S. Army to achieve the same objective."

The overall mission was to gain a working relationship with one of the U.S. Army's main allies in the Pacific region, Walgren, a native of Gardner, Mass., said.

Read McCullough's full story here.

The Lakewood Playhouse's 75th Anniversary Season party continues with a stage production of 12 Angry Men. In the stage adaptation, and subsequent Sidney Lumet film, a dozen men debate whether a teenage boy with a rap sheet is guilty of murdering his father at knifepoint. The defendant's race is never specified, but he's "one of these people," so pick your minority. Likewise, we never get names from the jurors, just numbers - although we do know the names starring in the local production, according to a Lakewood Playhouse news release:

The show consists of a true "ensemble" of thirteen Local Actors who are "split right down the middle" with both new, and old faces to the Lakewood Playhouse stage including these actors returning from previous productions: JAMES WREDE (Foreman), JACOB TICE (Juror #2), JOSEPH GRANT (Juror #4), JED SLAUGHTER (Juror #6), BRUCE STORY (Juror #8), MICHAEL DRESDNER (Juror #11) and CONNOR TIBKE (The Guard).

We are proud to introduce the following actors to the Lakewood Playhouse Stage: CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL (Juror #3), JAMES CLARK (Juror #5), BOB REED (Juror #7), CURT BEECH (Juror #9), RONNIE HILL (Juror #10) and DENNIS WORRELL (Juror #12).

Yup, that's Weekly Volcano theater critic Christian Carvajal.

Also, how about the artwork above by artist James Stowe? That's awesome.

To purchase your tickets, click here.

It might be 2014 to the rest of the world, but to the Washington State History Museum it's 1849. The downtown Tacoma museum will open "Civil War Pathways in the Pacific Northwest" Monday, Feb. 17, an exhibit focusing on the Civil War's impact on the Pacific Northwest. According to pre-opening hype, "This exhibit is about those choices and where they led - the pathways people took. These pathways were discovered through a large crowd-sourcing project that turned everyday citizens into historical researchers, allowing the collection of valuable references to Civil War-era life in Washington."

On display will be more than 150 original artifacts including rare items such as an early photograph of Abraham Lincoln, Isaac Stevens' sword, rare manuscripts, drawings from the U.S. National Archives, and a host of weapons, maps, sketches, and photographs. Together with the stories gleaned from the research project, visitors will experience a powerful exhibit connecting the issues of the past to those of today.

Opening Day

On President's Day, the museum will cut the 165-year-old ribbon, allowing those who have the day off - or are pretending to have the day off - to enjoy presentations and displays by Civil War reenactors portraying members of the military and the community from the Washington Territory including Gen. George Pickett and Washington resident Mrs. Sarah Bacheldor.

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