Violent Tornadoes Touch Down in Oklahoma
At least one person is dead in Osage County following last night’s powerful storms that generated hail, powerful winds and at least eight reported tornadoes.
In Northeast Oklahoma, a large tornado moved through Barnsdall, which is home to about a thousand people. Stormchaser videos show leveled structures and uprooted trees. A nursing home was among the buildings that took a direct hit. The storm continued on to Bartlesville, where it reportedly damaged a hotel.
Search and rescue teams continued working into the early morning. This was Barnsdall’s second tornado of the year — last month, an EF1 downed power lines and damaged roofs.
Elsewhere in the state, Moore experienced powerful, damaging winds that knocked out power to nearly half the city. Del City and the surrounding area saw a tornado warning just before midnight.
Oklahoma Lawmakers Fail To Negotiate Budget
Oklahoma lawmakers failed to negotiate a budget proposal despite sitting together for hours, trying to hash out a deal.
With under a month left in the legislative session and a $1 billion gap between the two chambers on the state budget, the only agreement made during Monday’s budget discussions was over a $45 million appropriation for tornado relief needs.
Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat says everything else – an income tax cut, teacher pay raises and more funding for law enforcement – are off the table until Senate members can discuss them in their corresponding subcommittees.
"We're agreeing on the Office of Emergency Management. We've talked about $45 million," Treat said. "I don't anticipate a lot of agreements coming out of here today, other than perhaps where we're already aligned."
Those Senate subcommittee meetings will be held through Thursday afternoon when the next meeting between the two chambers and the governor will take place.
OU Ends Women’s Leadership Program
The University of Oklahoma is making more big changes to programs in response to Gov. Kevin Stitt’s executive order, which prohibits state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion. OU is ending a decades-old women’s leadership program.
The National Education for Women’s Leadership, or N.E.W. Leadership, program was launched in 2002, with the mission of equipping women to work in public service. The Carl Albert Center at OU, which hosts the program, sent a letter to supporters Thursday announcing the university could no longer host the program due to Stitt’s executive order.
The order requires a review of all higher education programs, policies and positions related to DEI and forbids state funding for them. House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson was the first N.E.W. Leadership graduate elected to public office. She said in a statement issued Monda, “Institutions are now feeling pressure from Oklahoma Republicans to get rid of these programs and because of this, I am afraid the consequences of this executive order will only get worse.”
OU also recently shut down its Gender and Equality Center and is restructuring its DEI-focused Student Life programs to comply with the order.
OKC Thunder Ready to Reignite Playoff Fire Against Dallas Mavericks
The Oklahoma City Thunder open the second round of the NBA playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night.
It’s been eight days since the Thunder last played, following a four-game sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans in their first-round playoff series.
Guard Cason Wallace says the long layoff allowed OKC to rest, recuperate and study their opponent.
“I feel like we handled the break well. I feel like we got off our feet, but we still put in a lot of good work to keep our legs right for the game and… be prepared," said Wallace.
OKC won three out of four games against the Mavs during the regular season, but none of those wins featured a Dallas lineup with both of their superstars – Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. Their lone loss did.
The first game of the series tips off at the Paycom Center at 8:30 tonight on TNT.
________________
For additional news throughout the day visit our website, KGOU.org and follow us on social media.
We also invite you to subscribe to the KGOU PM NewsBrief.