Weekend Storms Kills 2 in Moore
Two people are dead following flooding from severe storms over the weekend.
Erika Lott and her 12-year-old son, Rivers Bond, were killed when their vehicle and another were swept into a creek in southeast Moore. Three other people were rescued in the incident.
Weekend storms prompted tornado warnings in eastern Oklahoma.
The National Weather service says a preliminary survey of damage on the north side of Ada indicates at least EF-1 damage.
Tulsa Police Stress Need for Mental Health Partnerships Amid Budget Woes
Tulsa police officers say partnerships with local mental health providers are critical to public safety. The comments were made during a legislative hearing last week.
The police officers were called to testify during an active investigation into the state department of mental health.
The department is under scrutiny for budget shortfalls, contract cancellations and a last-minute request for emergency funding.
Lieutenant Amber McCarty warned lawmakers that without state-supported recovery centers and co-response teams, the city could lose ‘decades’ of progress.
“This is not a law enforcement solvable problem. We need their assistance," said McCarty.
While the state agency has since walked back some cuts, lawmakers say they’re still working to understand what went wrong – and what it’ll take to keep services running.
Researcher Suggests Oklahoma City Bombing Survivors Carry Physiological Traces of Trauma
New research released by the University of Oklahoma suggests survivors carry physiological traces of their trauma. The study used data gathered seven years after the Oklahoma City Bombing occurred, that includes 60 direct survivors.
The study compares medically healthy survivors to a control group and highlights differences in cortisol, heart rate and blood pressure, and a group of proteins regulating immune responses. Dr. Phebe Tucker, the study’s lead author, says participating survivors' PTSD and depression scores weren’t elevated and didn’t correlate with stress biomarkers.
Survivors, for example, were found to have higher blood pressure but a lower heart rate in response to trauma cues.
“It was as if the mind was kind of letting go of some of the stress in these healthy people, but the body had not forgotten,” Tucker said.
Tucker says she hopes more research can be done on the impacts of terrorism, and she is grateful for the contributions survivors made.
Thunder Crush Grizzlies by 51 in Playoff Win
The Oklahoma City Thunder dominated their opening playoff game against the Memphis Grizzlies Sunday winning by a score of 131 to 80.
The 51-point victory is the fifth-biggest margin of victory in NBA postseason history, but Thunder forward Jalen Williams says the team won’t let off the gas.
“We’ll be proud for this win for about an hour, and then we gotta get right back to the drawing board. There’s a lot of stuff we can do better," said Williams.
Game 2 of the series takes place Tuesday evening at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
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