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Tag: Oklahoma
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Tornadoes rip through Oklahoma and severe weather continues in the West
Tornadoes rip through Oklahoma and severe weather continues in the West – CBS News
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Tornadoes and severe winds strike central US as another round of rain and snow is set to pummel the West and North | CNN
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CNN
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As severe storms prompted overnight tornado reports in parts of the central US, a barrage of snow, rain and harsh wind is forecast Monday in places from the West Coast to the Great Lakes, including some still without power following a similar string of severe weather last week.
More than 231,000 US homes and businesses were without power as of early Monday, according to PowerOutage.US – about half in Michigan, which is bracing for another round of ice and snow to hit the region Monday.
Tens of thousands also lacked power in Oklahoma, where at least seven tornadoes and 12 injuries were reported in Sunday’s severe weather. Two tornadoes were reported in Kansas.
More than 100 other storm reports – including wind and hail – were recorded in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas as hurricane-force winds and severe thunderstorms tore through. A gust of 114 mph was recorded In Memphis, Texas – equivalent to sustained wind in a Category 3 hurricane.
“I got up and then the wind just threw me back. And I’m screaming,” Frances Tabler of Norman, Oklahoma, told CNN affiliate KOCO. “It was like a blizzard inside the house.”
Early Monday, flipped cars and downed trees littered neighborhoods where roofs had been torn from homes, CNN’s Ed Lavandera reported.
In anticipation of severe winds and potential hail Sunday night into Monday, a unit at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, relocated most of its aircraft to protect them and ensure they can still be deployed if needed, the base announced.
As the storm shifts north by Monday afternoon, a slight risk for severe weather – possibly a few tornadoes and wind gusts – could impact cities including Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio.
In the West – where last week’s storms prompted rare blizzard warnings and road flooding in California – a separate system of rain and high-elevation snow will push from the Pacific Northwest down into California and into the Rockies through Monday.
Nine western states are under winter weather alerts Monday as heavy snowfall is forecast across the region, including up to 10 inches in Washington state’s Cascades by early Tuesday; 1 to 3 feet in high elevations and mountain peaks of western Oregon; and 1 to 3 feet in mountainous areas of the Rockies.
A blizzard warning remains in effect for the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, which could see between 2 and 6 feet of snow.
Yosemite National Park was closed Saturday due to severe weather and will not reopen until at least Wednesday as the multiday blizzard warning remains in effect across Yosemite Valley, the park announced. The valley could see as much as 55 to 84 inches of snow by Wednesday, the park said.
The storm system impacting Oklahoma and Ohio is expected to push into the Northeast by Monday afternoon, where interior parts of the region could see widespread snowfall totals of 6 to 12 inches.
Meanwhile, the South is anticipating another week of unusually warm winter temperatures after steaming under record-breaking highs last week.
Dozens of daily high temperature records could be broken again in the coming days as areas of southern Texas and the Florida Peninsula could see temperatures into the 90s.
As the National Weather Service reviews the severe weather reports from Sunday into Monday morning, it will work to determine whether the system can be classified as a derecho, which forecasters previously said was possible.
A derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm that typically causes damage in one direction across a relatively straight path, according to the weather service. To be classified as a derecho, the stretch of wind damage should extend more than 240 miles and include wind gusts of at least 58 mph along most of its length, it says.
In total, more than 115 storm reports were made Sunday across the Southern Plains, mainly of wind across Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. This also includes 14 hail reports in those states, with several hailstones reportedly 1.75 inches in diameter.
Nine tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma and Kansas, including one in the Oklahoma city of Norman, where police warned of road closures, downed power lines and debris.
Twelve weather-related injuries were reported early Monday, the Norman Police Department said. None was critical, the department said after conferring with area hospitals.
Students on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman were told to immediately take shelter Sunday evening as the area was under a tornado warning, which was lifted later that night.
Officials in Oklahoma are still assessing the damage, though the most concentrated impacts appear to be in Norman, Shawnee and possibly Cheyenne, said Keli Cain, public affairs director for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
Roughly a dozen families displaced by a tornado in Liberal, Kansas, are being accommodated and about 10 trailers were also damaged, City Manager Rusty Varnado said. At least one person was injured by broken glass, he said, noting the injuries are minor.
Freezing rain, snow and ice across the Great Lakes region and parts of the Midwest last week resulted in perilous travel conditions, road closures and significant power outages that disrupted daily life for many.
This week, the Great Lakes are poised to be hit all over again, including Michigan, where about 130,000 homes and businesses still did not have power early Monday after the prior storms damaged trees and utility lines.
Utility company DTE, one of Michigan’s largest electricity providers, said 630,000 of its customers have been impacted by the storms so far. By Sunday night, power was restored to about 600,000 of their customers, the utility said.
Another round of mixed precipitation is expected to move into the region Monday, with those under winter weather alerts possibly seeing between 2 and 8 inches of snowfall.
As the storm moves east, winter storm watches are also in effect for parts of interior New York and New England through Wednesday afternoon. In total, these isolated areas can see up to 10 inches of snowfall.
Boston, which is under a winter weather advisory from Monday evening until Tuesday evening, is expected to get 2 to 5 inches of snowfall.
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8 people injured in stabbing incident at an Oklahoma City nightclub | CNN
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CNN
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Eight people were injured, including two critically, after a stabbing incident in Oklahoma City, according to the Oklahoma City Police Department.
Police say a “large fight” broke out at a nightclub in the early hours of Saturday morning in the city’s Bricktown district.
“Several police officers were posted outside the club as part of security protocols and saw the fight occurring, with several injured people exiting the club onto the sidewalk,” police said in a Facebook post. Officers found two people “bleeding profusely” from what appeared to be “serious stab wounds.”
“Officers immediately began rendering lifesaving measures by applying tourniquets and direct pressure to stop the loss of blood,” authorities said.
So far, police say it’s “unclear” what caused the fight, and no arrests have been made.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Absentee ballot deadline nears on Oklahoma marijuana vote – – Medical Marijuana Program Connection
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BRYAN COUNTY, Okla. (KTEN) — The deadline to request absentee ballots by mail for Oklahoma’s March 7 special elections is fast … Read More
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More than half of U.S. states are moving to cut your taxes
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Even as the U.S. economy shows signs of slowing down, many states around the U.S. are flush with cash, with their so-called rainy day funds estimated to reach a record high of $136.8 billion this fiscal year. And lawmakers in more than half of states are responding to their new cash cushions with similar proposals: cutting taxes.
Twenty-seven states are weighing tax cuts this year, according to a recent analysis from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), which termed the push “tax cut fever.” Some officials are considering totally eliminating their state income tax, including in Mississippi and Arkansas, while others are floating property tax cuts, among other ideas.
The drive to cut state taxes has accelerated during the pandemic. During the past two years, dozens of states reduced their income tax rates or created new tax credits and rebates, partly as their coffers overflowed due to strong economic growth and billions in federal pandemic aid. Yet the latest round of tax cuts comes as the economy is showing signs of stress, raising questions about timing.
“Times are good now, but if there’s a downturn, what will their response be?”” said Richard Auxier, senior policy analyst at the Tax Policy Center who focuses on state and local tax policy. “Will it be cutting spending on education? And if it’s raising taxes, who will be impacted?”
The current tax cut proposals range from small reductions in states’ income tax rates to getting rid of the individual income tax altogether, as Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, a Republican who is running for reelection this year, has proposed.
Other states are examining more targeted measures, such as exempting more retirement income from taxation — a move that would benefit older residents but potentially take away revenue that could be used for younger families, ITEP noted.
To be sure, some of these proposals are simply that: ideas floated by lawmakers and governors that may face a long path to becoming law. In some states, the tax cut plans are further along, such as in North Dakota, where lawmakers are weighing a bill that would eliminate the individual income tax for single filers making $44,725 or less and for married filers making $74,750 or less, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
Tax cut rationale: The good, the bad and the ugly
State lawmakers say they are proposing tax cuts for a number of reasons: To make their states more economically competitive with others; to boost economic growth; or to boost taxpayers who are struggling with inflation.
But Auxier said voters should examine whether these tax strategies match up with lawmakers’ objectives, noting that the cuts might not actually accomplish their stated goals.
For instance, reductions in income tax rates are often portrayed as helping put money back into ordinary workers’ pockets. Yet in the 11 states that cut individual income tax rates in 2022, the biggest direct benefits were enjoyed by the highest-earning households, Auxier’s analysis found.
By comparison, lower- and middle-income households received only a modest or no benefit. The reason: Higher-income households pay the most in taxes, while some low-income households pay no taxes. That means a tax cut wouldn’t provide those individuals with any benefit.
“If you say, ‘My goal is to give back money to the people who pay the most taxes,’ then the income tax cut works,” Auxier told CBS MoneyWatch. “I don’t like when they say, ‘I want to pass a tax cut for regular working class people’ — nope, it doesn’t work that way.”
Some states weighing whether to scrap their income tax entirely say it will make them more attractive to businesses and households from other states. In Mississippi, Reeves said eliminating taxes would help the state — one of the poorest in the U.S. — “become more competitive economically with Texas, with Florida, with Tennessee.”
Competitive taxation
But Mississippi, which US News & World Reports ranks 50th on health care and 49th on its economy among all 50 states, may need far more than a tax cut to compete with Florida or Texas — which rank No. 8 and No. 9 in terms how well residents are doing — Auxier noted.
“I get really nervous when people in Mississippi and West Virginia start saying, ‘We have lot of problems, and I’m looking at Florida and Texas and they don’t have an income tax and they are doing great — that’s what we have to do’,” Auxier said. “If you think the only difference between Mississippi and West Virginia and Florida and Texas is income taxes, I don’t think you are doing enough research.”
Businesses generally rank other issues higher than taxes when deciding where to locate, experts say. For instance, they’ll point to the need for a pool of qualified workers, good schools for their employees’ children and good roads and transportation to get employees to work.
“Be careful before you eliminate your state’s ability to generate revenue,” Auxier noted.
Targeted tax relief
Other states are focusing their tax cuts on specific groups, such as 10 states that last year created or expanded a Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit, which is geared toward low-income families. Some states this year are focusing on older residents, with tax reductions for retirement income, such as Vermont, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
These cuts are typically less fiscally costly than a wholesale reduction of the income tax rate, which makes them more affordable — and gives a state more fiscal flexibility in a downturn, Auxier added.
One example of tax cuts backfiring — the Kansas experiment of 2012. That year, lawmakers in the state slashed income tax rates on top earners by almost 30%, while some businesses had their taxes reduced to zero, under the theory that lower taxes would help spur economic growth.
But Kansas underperformed its neighboring states on an economic basis, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. And with less state revenue, Kansas was forced to cut spending on education and other services. Eventually, the tax cuts were reversed by lawmakers.
Here are the 27 states where lawmakers or their governors are considering tax cuts in 2023.
Arkansas
Newly inaugurated Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, is pledging to eliminate the state’s individual income tax, although she said she will start with tax cuts. Her rationale: “We will no longer surrender our jobs, our talent, our businesses and our economic might to states like Tennessee and Texas that have no income tax.”
“I will work with lawmakers to pass an income tax cut this year – and we must keep cutting it, no matter how long it takes, until we eventually wipe the income tax off the books,” Sanders said in her January inauguration speech.
Arkansas’ economy ranks 41st out of the 50 states, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Colorado
Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, is pushing for $200 million in property tax relief this year, according to the Colorado Sun. That comes after voters last fall approved a cut that reduced the state’s flat income tax rate to 4.4% from 4.55%.
Connecticut
The state has a 3% personal income tax on the first $10,000 of earnings for single workers (and up to $20,000 for married filers), and a 5% rate for income up to $50,000 for single taxpayers and $100,000 for married filers. Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, is proposing cutting those rates to 2% and 4.5%, respectively, starting in 2024.
Georgia
Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, wants to give $1 billion in income tax rebates to residents, which he describes as inflation relief, according to WSB-TV. He’s also proposing an additional $1 billion in property tax relief grants.
Idaho
Idaho, which last year lowered its personal and corporate tax rate and created a tax rebate of $300 per person, wants to provide more relief in 2023, Governor Brad Little, a Republican, said in his 2023 state address. Little is pledging $120 million in property tax relief this year.
Indiana
Lawmakers in the state say they want to prioritize property tax cuts in 2023, as well as potentially cut individual tax rates even further, according to WISH-TV. That would come after the state approved lowering its personal income tax rate from 3.23% to 2.9% over seven years.
Iowa
Lawmakers are focusing on lowering property taxes in 2023 after Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law last year to introduce a flat tax of 3.9% and eliminate brackets for higher-income residents.
“So I think what you’re going to see us looking at this year is more of, how do we help bring down some of these levies, but at the same time, how do we make sure that there’s a level of accountability so Iowans see this property tax relief?” said Pat Grassley, the Republican House speaker, according to The Gazette.
Kansas
Both Democrats and Republicans in Kansas want to provide more tax cuts in 2023, although they disagree about how to go about it, according to the Kansas City Star.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, wants to eliminate sales taxes on food, diapers and feminine hygiene products as well as cut income taxes on Social Security, among other approaches. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are pushing to introduce a flat income tax rate for state residents.
Kentucky
Lawmakers have introduced a bill that would accelerate tax cuts and lower the individual income tax to 4.5% in 2023 and to 4% in 2024. Currently, the state’s tax rate is a flat 5%.
Louisiana
Some state lawmakers want to eliminate its personal income tax, with state Rep. Richard Nelson, a Republican, suggesting offsetting the loss of income taxes with changes to sales and property taxes. Louisiana’s graduated individual income tax now ranges from 1.85% to 4.25%, according to the Tax Foundation.
“My concept is really you’re going to package those changes with eliminating income tax and some of these other non-competitive taxes,” Nelson said, according to BRProud.com.
Michigan
On February 3, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and other Democratic state lawmakers proposed a set of tax cuts, including a $180 tax rebate for every tax filer, according to Click on Detroit.
The plan would also eliminate a retirement tax of 4.25% and expand a match of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, which is aimed at low- and middle-income families.
Minnesota
Lawmakers in Minnesota, one of only 12 states that taxes Social Security income, are proposing to eliminate the tax. That would impact more than 400,000 tax filers, who would see a tax reduction of $1,200, according to CBS Minnesota.
Mississippi
As mentioned above, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves is seeking to eliminate the state’s personal income tax, which currently is a graduated tax ranging from 4% to 5%.
That would come after Reeves signed a law last year to reduce individual tax rates, with the 5% tax rate gradually declining to 4% for fiscal year 2026, according to the Clarion Ledger.
Missouri
Fresh off $800 million in tax cuts that were signed into law in 2022, Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, a Republican, said in January that the state’s $6 billion surplus should be used to send more money back to taxpayers.
Plocher didn’t provide specifics, but said he is interested in cutting income taxes and sales taxes, as well as making changes to property taxes, according to the Missouri Independent.
Montana
With a $2.5 billion surplus, state lawmakers are moving forward with a billion-dollar tax rebate that would send $1,250 in rebate checks to taxpayers. The bill would also green-light property tax rebates of $500 per homeowner, the Montana Free Press reported in January.
However, Governor Greg Gianforte, a Republican, last month called for even bigger property tax rebates, at $2,000 per taxpayer.
“We want to provide Montana homeowners with $2,000 in property tax rebates over this year and next, and permanent, long-term income tax cuts,” he said at a January press conference.
Nebraska
Governor Jim Pillen, a Republican, and state lawmakers in January jointly proposed a number of bills that would reduce tax rates. For instance, one bill would cut its highest individual income tax rate form 6.64% now to 5.84% by tax year 2027.
Another bill proposes exempting all Social Security income from taxation. Currently, the state exempts 60% of Social Security benefits from taxes.
New Mexico
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, in January announced a plan to send tax rebates to residents. The legislation proposes making $750 payments to individual taxpayers or $1,500 for those filing jointly, with the goal of helping residents struggling with inflation.
North Carolina
Some lawmakers want to cut personal tax rates to compete with states without individual tax rates. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, a Republican, last month said he wants to cut the individual income tax rate to 2.5%, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.
The state income tax rate is already getting a cut in 2023, thanks to earlier legislation. The tax rate this year is 4.75%, down from 4.99% previously, and it will decline to 3.99% in 2026.
North Dakota
Lawmakers in North Dakota are weighing a proposal that could eliminate the individual income tax for low- and middle-income earners. People earning less than $44,725 and married filers earning less than $74,750 wouldn’t pay taxes under the proposal, while higher-earning households would have a flat tax of 1.5%.
Ohio
A flat income tax is on the agenda for lawmakers in 2023, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Currently, the state has a graduated tax that ranges from 2.77% to about 4%, the Tax Foundation notes.
Flat taxes ultimately benefit the highest-earning households, according to ITEP, which said its research found that all households except the top 20% paid a higher tax rate on average in flat-tax states compared with those in graduated tax states.
Oklahoma
Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said in his state address earlier this month that he wants to cut taxes, according to Fox25.
“In my executive budget I am proposing to eliminate Oklahoma’s state grocery tax and reduce our personal income tax rate to 3.99%,” Stitt said. The state has a graduated individual income tax that ranges up to 4.75%, according to the Tax Foundation.
South Carolina
The state last year passed an income tax reduction, reducing the top income tax rate from 7% to 6.5% and condensing the number of income brackets to three from six, according to the Post and Courier.
Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, said in his January state address that he’d like to speed up the tax cuts.
“Should an increase in future revenues allow, I ask the General Assembly to use additional funds to speed up the income tax cut schedule, so taxpayers can keep even more of their hard-earned money,”
Utah
Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, is proposing cutting the state’s current income tax rate from 4.85% to 4.75%, according to KSL.com. He also wants to use the state’s budget surplus to send checks of at least $100 to households and provide a one-time property tax rebate.
Vermont
Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, highlighted some possible tax cuts in his fiscal year 2024 budget address last month. Among them: getting rid of taxes on veteran pension benefits, which the AARP calls “long overdue,” and expanding its exemption on taxes for Social Security income.
Vermont, one of 12 states that taxes Social Security income, exempts earnings from the program of up to $25,000 per single taxpayer or $32,000 for married couples. Under Scott’s plan, that would be expanded by $15,000.
Virginia
Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, in December proposed a new budget with an additional $1 billion in tax cuts, according to the Virginia Mercury. That would follow on last year’s $4 billion in tax cuts for state taxpayers.
Among his proposals is cutting the state’s top personal tax rate to 5.5% from 5.75% — a change that would impact most taxpayers since it applies to incomes over $17,000.
West Virginia
Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, proposed what he describes as “the largest tax cut in West Virginia history” in his state address last month. His plan would reduce personal income taxes by 50% over three years, beginning with a 30% cut in June 2023 and two additional 10% cuts in the following two years.
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, proposed cutting taxes for middle-class households in his state address last month, according to PBS Wisconsin. However, Republicans are pushing for a flat-tax plan that would reduce taxes for the highest-earning households and introduce a flat 3.25% rate in four years, the publication noted.
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US winter storm causes 3rd day of dangerous, icy conditions
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A deadly storm system lashed a large swath of the southern U.S. with bands of sleet and snow for a third day on Wednesday, grounding an additional 2,300 flights, leaving hundreds of thousands without power, forcing school closures and making already treacherous driving conditions worse.
Watches and warnings about wintry conditions were issued for an area stretching West Texas’ border with Mexico through Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, and into western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Several rounds of mixed precipitation, including freezing rain and sleet, were in store for many areas throughout the day, meaning some places could get hit multiple times, forecasters said.
“It actually looks like it’s going to be getting worse again across Texas, it is already a pretty big area of freezing rain across western and southwestern Texas,” said Bob Oravec, a lead National Weather Service forecaster based in Camp Springs, Maryland.
Oravec said the icy weather is expected to move northeastward across parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas into western Tennessee and northern Mississippi before it starts to dissipate.
“By later in the day on Thursday it should be pretty much done, and all the … precipitation will be well downstream across parts of the South and where it will be mostly heavy rain,” Oravec said.
By late Wednesday morning, 2,300 U.S. flights had been canceled, including three-quarters of the flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and more than two-thirds at Dallas Love Field, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.com. Dallas-Forth Worth International is American Airlines’ biggest hub, and Love Field is a major base for Southwest Airlines.
Many flights were also canceled at other airports, including in San Antonio, the Texas capital of Austin, and Nashville, Tennessee, compounding frustrations caused by the nearly 2,000 cancellations on Tuesday and roughly 1,100 on Monday.
Because of the storm, the Detroit Pistons were unable to fly home following their game Monday against the Dallas Mavericks, and the NBA postponed the Pistons’ Wednesday night home game against the Washington Wizards.
Many schools throughout Arkansas have announced they would be closed on Thursday. School systems in Dallas; Austin, Texas; and Memphis, Tennessee, also canceled classes for Thursday.
In Texas, more than 350,000 customers were without power Wednesday afternoon as trees — heavy with ice — buckled onto power lines, according to PowerOutage, a website that tracks utility reports.
More than half of those outages were in Austin, where the city’s utility warned residents who had been without electricity for 10 hours or longer that lights and heat may not come back on until Thursday. Overnight low temperatures were expected to fall to 33 degrees in Austin, with more chances for freezing rain, according to the National Weather Service. Austin Energy asked customers to prepare emergency plans and relocate before dusk if needed.
Pablo Vegas, who heads the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, vowed that the state’s electrical grid and natural gas supply would be reliable and that there wouldn’t be a repeat of the February 2021 blackouts, when the grid was on the brink of total failure.
As the ice and sleet enveloped Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis-Shelby County Schools announced it would cancel classes Wednesday due to freezing rain and hazardous road conditions. The school system serves about 100,000 students. The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis also closed due to the weather.
Also in Memphis, the icy weather delayed the funeral service for Tyre Nichols, who died following a brutal beating by police during a traffic stop. But more icy weather was moving in from the southwest just ahead of the funeral, which was pushed back a few hours to Wednesday afternoon.
“The third and FINAL round of freezing rain and/or sleet will start this afternoon,” the National Weather Service’s Memphis office posted on social media Wednesday morning. The leading edge of a wintry mix of precipitation was about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Memphis late Wednesday morning, radar showed.
The Dallas school district, which serves about 145,000 students, also canceled classes Wednesday.
Emergency responders rushed to hundreds of auto collisions across Texas on Tuesday and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott urged people not to drive. At least six people have died on slick Texas roads since Monday, including a triple fatality crash Tuesday near Brownfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Lubbock.
Two Texas law officers, including a state trooper who was struck by a vehicle while investigating a crash on Interstate 45 southeast of Dallas, were seriously injured, authorities said.
In Arkansas, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency Tuesday because of icy conditions. Her declaration cited the “likelihood of numerous downed power lines” and said road conditions have created a backlog of deliveries by commercial drivers.
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Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press journalists David Koenig in Dallas; Paul J. Weber in Austin, Texas; and Donna Warder in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
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For more AP weather coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/weather
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2 States Introduce Radical Bills To Prosecute Pregnant People For Abortions
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Republicans in Arkansas and Oklahoma introduced bills this week that would allow authorities to criminally prosecute pregnant people for seeking abortion care. The legislation offers a terrifying preview of what’s to come in a country that no longer has federal abortion protections.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 287 and Arkansas House Bill 1174 were proposed with the specific intent to criminalize anyone who gets an abortion. The Oklahoma legislation aims to amend the state’s near-total abortion ban to eliminate language that protects pregnant people from prosecution. The Arkansas legislation would let the state’s homicide laws apply to aborted fetuses and give them due process protections, while also repealing protections for people who “solicit, advise, encourage, or coerce a pregnant woman” to get an abortion.
Both bills include exceptions for preserving the life of a pregnant person. But as with rape and incest exemptions in bans in other states, the wording is vague and will likely force people to be at death’s door before they are legally allowed to receive lifesaving care. The Arkansas legislation also includes exceptions for miscarriages, but this may be virtually meaningless since abortion and miscarriage are medically indistinguishable.
These proposed laws, if passed, will empower law enforcement and the legal system to scrutinize, surveil and criminalize not only people seeking abortion care, but also those with wanted pregnancies. And they could deeply discourage people from seeking medical care if they have issues with their pregnancies.
HuffPost reached out to the sponsors of both bills — Oklahoma state Sen. Warren Hamilton (R) and Arkansas state Rep. Richard Womack (R) and Sen. Matt McKee (R) — but none immediately responded.
Giving the go-ahead to prosecute pregnant people is a slippery and dangerous slope that will impact anyone who can get pregnant, said Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel and legal director at the reproductive justice nonprofit If/When/How.
“If it is possible to criminally prosecute somebody for intentionally ending a pregnancy, that means you have to go through some kind of a process to determine whether or not that was intentional. That’s called a criminal prosecution. That’s an investigation,” she said.
“Anybody who can’t guarantee a healthy baby at the end of a pregnancy will have to undergo some type of investigation to make sure that they didn’t intentionally do something to interrupt the pregnancy or harm the pregnancy in some way.”
Currently, there are no legal hurdles to such legislation passing in deeply anti-abortion states like Arkansas and Oklahoma, but challenges will follow once the bills are enacted, Diaz-Tello predicted. People would first need to be arrested, charged and prosecuted for their pregnancy outcomes, and then the laws can face pushback in court.
Although the mainstream anti-abortion movement has long said it will not go after pregnant people — instead choosing to criminalize physicians, health care providers and anyone who helps someone get an abortion — the tide may be turning.
Abortion opponents have been reinvigorated since last year’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion natonwide. The move gave them license to campaign on policy positions that were viewed as far too extreme just two or three years ago. Six-week abortion restrictions or bans with no exceptions for rape or incest, which were once taboo, are now the policies that could help a Republican win their primary.
According to many reproductive rights advocates, the idea of criminalizing abortion-seekers is driving a rift among the procedure’s opponents. The bills in Arkansas and Oklahoma, as well as recent comments from Alabama’s attorney general, point to a growing faction in the anti-abortion movement that is heading in a much more radical direction.
But criminally targeting pregnant people in this way is not unprecedented. Prosecutors have used laws to criminalize hundreds of women in states like Alabama and Missouri for their pregnancy outcomes even when Roe v. Wade was still in force. And lawmakers in Louisiana, Texas and Iowa have attempted to pass bills targeting women who get abortions.
“This perspective is not really anything new. We’re simply more attuned to it now because of the fall of Roe,” said Diaz-Tello.
“People need to know that the guardrails that the Constitution used to provide are no longer there, so the stakes are that much higher now,” she added. “We can’t be asleep at the wheel. Everybody has to show up and say that this isn’t OK.”
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Oklahoma Investigators Searching For Body Of Missing 4-Year-Old Girl
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CYRIL, Oklahoma (AP) — An effort to locate a missing 4-year-old Oklahoma girl who authorities believe was killed by a caretaker has become a search for her remains, officials said Monday.
The search for Athena Brownfield, missing since last week, is now considered a “recovery operation,” the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a news release.
Authorities determined Athena was missing after a postal carrier found her 5-year-old sister wandering alone on Jan. 10 outside of the home of the couple who had been caring for the sisters in Cyril, a city of around 800 people located about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southwest of Oklahoma City.
Ivon Adams, 36, was arrested Thursday in Phoenix and is awaiting extradition to Oklahoma. He faces charges of first-degree murder and child neglect, according to the OSBI.
Alysia Adams, 31, was arrested in Oklahoma and faces two counts of child neglect. The OSBI said she is related to the sisters.
Jail records do not list attorneys for either who could comment on the accusations against them.
Areas of Caddo County, where Cyril is located, are being searched for Athena’s remains, the OSBI said Monday. The agency asked the the public not to search for Athena’s remains, saying that people could end up trespassing or contaminating potential evidence.
The sisters’ biological parents have been interviewed by authorities and are cooperating with the investigation, the OSBI said. Athena’s sister was taken into protective custody.
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A married couple taking care of a 4-year-old girl is under arrest and face charges in her disappearance, Oklahoma officials say | CNN
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A married couple who police say was caring for a 4-year-old girl in Oklahoma has been arrested and charged after the child’s disappearance, investigators said.
Athena Brownfield was first discovered missing by authorities after her young sister was seen unattended outside a home in the town of Cyril – about 55 miles southwest of Oklahoma City – earlier this week, prompting officers and volunteers to launch a search for the child, authorities said.
Alysia Adams, 31, was arrested Thursday in nearby Grady County and faces two counts of child neglect, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Ivon Adams, 36, was arrested Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona, Oklahoma and Phoenix police said. An outstanding felony warrant had been issued from Oklahoma on first-degree murder and child neglect charges, according to a court document filed in Maricopa County obtained by CNN affiliate KNXV.
Authorities learned Athena was missing on Tuesday after a mail carrier called police and reported a young girl was unattended, wandering outside the Adamses’ home, investigators said. The girl turned out to be Athena’s 5-year-old sister, who was not hurt when police found her, law enforcement said. However, authorities have not been able to locate Athena since then.
Athena was being cared for by the couple at the time of her disappearance, according to Oklahoma authorities, who say the investigation is ongoing and are concerned about her well-being.
“You’re talking about a toddler who’s been on her own,” state bureau of investigation spokesperson Brook Arbeitman said Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities have been in touch with Athena’s parents but refused to provide additional information about the circumstances of the case, they said earlier this week.
Police searched Athena’s home and are looking for more clues around the community.
“I’m not going to call them evidence, but we are finding things around town that could be helpful in this case,” Arbeitman said.
Ivon Adams is currently being held in Maricopa County Jail as he awaits extradition to Oklahoma, the State Bureau of Investigation said. Alysia Adams is in custody at Caddo County Jail in Oklahoma, officials said.
It was unclear Friday whether the couple has legal representation. CNN has reached out to authorities for more information.
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12-year-old in custody in Oklahoma for fatally stabbing 9-year-old brother while parent slept upstairs, police say | CNN
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A 12-year-old girl is in custody in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after fatally stabbing her 9-year-old brother, according to police.
The child is being held in a Tulsa juvenile detention facility, according to a Tulsa Police news release.
Officers responded to a stabbing late Thursday night, the release said. When officers arrived, paramedics and firefighters “were already on scene and performing CPR to a 9-year-old male victim,” police said.
“Officers learned the children’s parent was upstairs asleep when the 12-year-old daughter woke the parent up and said that she had stabbed her nine-year-old brother,” said the release.
The boy “was rushed to the hospital and taken into surgery,” but succumbed to his injuries shortly after 2:30 a.m. CT, according to police.
The 12-year-old suspect was taken into custody and is being held at the Family Center for Juvenile Justice, said the news release. Neither child has been identified by authorities.
The Tulsa Police Department Child Crisis Unit is handling the stabbing investigation.
This is the second homicide in the city of Tulsa this year, the department said.
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Oklahoma Bill Would Ban Gender-Affirming Care for People Under 26, Could Force Some to Detransition
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As politicians in red states across the country pass one anti-trans bill after the next, they frequently claim that they’re doing so for the children. In Arkansas, Tennessee, Arizona, Alabama, and Florida, for example, where various bans on gender-affirming care for minors have been passed, lawmakers have insisted that people under the age of 18 are simply too young to make decisions about their own bodies, arguing that laws and rules preventing them from doing so are in their own best interest. Such arguments allow elected officials to suggest that they are not anti-trans, that they believe trans adults should be free to live however they like, and that, again, this is about looking out for kids who don’t yet have the maturity to make major life decisions. Unfortunately, that argument is extremely difficult to believe for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that a number of states are trying to restrict gender-affirming care for adults; for instance, Oklahoma, which took a fresh stab at it last night.
Late Wednesday, Oklahoma state senator David Bullard filed a bill whose passage would prevent anyone under the age of 26—a full eight years beyond the widely accepted threshold for adulthood—from accessing gender-affirming medical care. OK SB129, a.k.a. the Millstone Act of 2023, would make it a felony for health care providers to administer—or even just recommend—such care. It also dangles the threat of medical license revocation over “unprofessional conduct.” In addition to surgery, the list of prohibited treatments includes puberty blockers and hormones. The bill also blocks public funds from being used “directly or indirectly” for gender-affirming care and bars Medicaid from covering gender transition procedures. As activist Erin Reed notes, the way the bill is written suggests that people under the age of 26 who are currently receiving gender-affirming care would no longer be able to do so, and thus would potentially be forced to “medically detransition.”
A separate Oklahoma bill filed in December would ban health care professionals from providing “gender transition procedures” to anyone under 21, with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. It’s unsurprising that Bullard was also the author of an Oklahoma law prohibiting transgender children from using school bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity (that law is currently being challenged by the ACLU).
As The Hill reported last month, “no fewer than 20 bills targeting transgender medical care have been prefiled in at least nine states” to be taken up this year. In November, Florida’s Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine voted to prohibit trans minors from receiving gender-affirming medical care, while the Florida Department of Health—in official state guidance—said last April that children who identify as trans should not be allowed to wear clothes or use pronouns or names that align with their gender identity. In case you were wondering about the depths of the evil here.
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Oklahoma reaches 4 new opioid settlements totaling more than $226 million
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Oklahoma has reached settlements with three major pharmacy chains and an opioid manufacturer totaling more than $226 million, state officials announced Wednesday.
Including the new settlements with drugmaker Allergan and pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, Oklahoma has received more than $900 million from opioid makers and distributors to help address the state’s opioid crisis.
“The opioid crisis has inflicted unspeakable pain on Oklahoma families and caused the deaths of thousands of Oklahomans,” Oklahoma Attorney General said in a statement. “Between 2016 and 2020, more than 3,000 Oklahomans died from opioid overdoses.”
Nearly all the settlement funds must be used to help remediate the affects of the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, including prevention and treatment services.
In November, three of the largest U.S. pharmacy chains reached settlements with states over the toll of opioids worth a total of about $13 billion. Under the separate deals, CVS Health and Walgreen Co. are each paying about $5 billion and Walmart is paying more than $3 billion. None has admitted wrongdoing.
Allergan didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the Oklahoma settlement.
The settlements are the latest in a wave of deals that state and local governments have struck with companies, including drugmakers, distribution companies and even a consulting firm, even as some lawsuits over how the drugs are marketed and sold continue.
The total of proposed and finalized settlements is now more than $50 billion. Unlike with tobacco company settlements in the 1990s, the bulk of the money is required to be used to address the opioid crisis, which has been linked to well over 500,000 U.S. deaths since 2000.
In 2019, Oklahoma, under then-Attorney General Mike Hunter, was the first state to reach a settlement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, for $270 million. Most of that money was used to establish a National Center for Addiction Studies and Treatment at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa.
Oklahoma was also the first state to go to trial in a lawsuit against the makers of opioids blamed for contributing to the nation’s opioid crisis.
A district court judge in 2019 found that New Jersey-based drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and its Belgium-based subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals violated the state’s public nuisance statute and ultimately ordered the company to pay the state $465 million to help address the state’s opioid crisis.
However that decision was later overturned by the state’s Supreme Court, which determined the trial court judge wrongly interpreted the state’s public nuisance law.
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Oklahoma AG announces 4 new opioid settlements worth $226M
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma entered settlement agreements with three major pharmacy chains and an opioid manufacturer totaling more than $226 million, Attorney General John O’Connor announced Wednesday.
Including the new settlements with drugmaker Allergan and pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, Oklahoma has received more than $900 million from opioid makers and distributors to help address the state’s opioid crisis, O’Connor said.
“The opioid crisis has inflicted unspeakable pain on Oklahoma families and caused the deaths of thousands of Oklahomans,” O’Connor said in a statement. “Between 2016 and 2020, more than 3,000 Oklahomans died from opioid overdoses.”
Nearly all the settlement funds must be used to help remediate the affects of the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, including prevention and treatment services.
In November, three of the largest U.S. pharmacy chains reached settlements with states over the toll of opioids worth a total of about $13 billion. Under the separate deals, CVS Health and Walgreen Co. are each paying about $5 billion and Walmart is paying more than $3 billion. None has admitted wrongdoing.
Allergan didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the Oklahoma settlement.
The settlements are the latest in a wave of deals that state and local governments have struck with companies, including drugmakers, distribution companies and even a consulting firm, even as some lawsuits over how the drugs are marketed and sold continue. The total of proposed and finalized settlements is now more than $50 billion. Unlike with tobacco company settlements in the 1990s, the bulk of the money is required to be used to address the opioid crisis, which has been linked to well over 500,000 U.S. deaths since 2000.
In 2019, Oklahoma, under then-Attorney General Mike Hunter, was the first state to reach a settlement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, for $270 million. Most of that money was used to establish a National Center for Addiction Studies and Treatment at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa.
Oklahoma was also the first state to go to trial in a lawsuit against the makers of opioids blamed for contributing to the nation’s opioid crisis. A district court judge in 2019 found that New Jersey-based drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and its Belgium-based subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals violated the state’s public nuisance statute and ultimately ordered the company to pay the state $465 million to help address the state’s opioid crisis. However that decision was later overturned by the state’s Supreme Court, which determined the trial court judge wrongly interpreted the state’s public nuisance law.
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Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy
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Thunder blow out Celtics 150-117 without Gilgeous-Alexander
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City’s top scorer was out, so everybody pitched in to make things work.
Josh Giddey scored a season-high 25 points and the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder blew out the NBA-leading Boston Celtics 150-117 on Tuesday night.
Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who ranks among the league’s leaders with 30.8 points per game, sat out with an illness. Without him, the Thunder set a record for points since the team moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle before the 2008-2009 season. The previous mark was 149 points in 2013.
Lu Dort scored 23 points and Jalen Williams, Tre Mann and Isaiah Joe each added 21 points for the Thunder. They shot 59.2% from the field.
It was a record-tying performance. Including playoffs, it was the 18th time in NBA history that a team had five players score at least 21 points in a game. The most recent instance was also by Oklahoma City, when Steven Adams, Danilo Gallinari, Chris Paul, Dennis Schröder and Gilgeous-Alexander did it against Minnesota on Dec. 6, 2019.
“I just think we’ve got great players and great people,” Mann said. “Guys who don’t really care who gets the credit.”
The Thunder hadn’t won a game by more than 16 points and the Celtics hadn’t lost by more than 16 this season. Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said the result came from his team’s approach.
“I told them after the game, I want them to realize what got it going, which was we had a great practice yesterday, came into the game with great focus on both ends of the floor, what we had to do, and that’s what allowed us to have fun tonight,” he said. “And we can’t lose sight of that.”
Oklahoma City took advantage of the fact that Robert Williams, one of Boston’s primary rim protectors, was out managing his injured left knee. The Thunder made 38 of 58 shots inside the 3-point line.
“You have to play with a sense of humility every night knowing your opponent wants to beat you,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We have to match that, and we didn’t. We got outplayed in every aspect of the game.”
Jaylen Brown scored 29 points for Boston, and Jayson Tatum added 27.
The Thunder led 74-54 at halftime behind Joe’s 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting. Oklahoma City shot 57% in the first half. The Celtics trailed big, despite Brown’s 18 points in the first half.
A 10-0 run put Oklahoma City ahead 90-63 just over three minutes into the second half, and the game was never close after that. The Thunder scored 48 points in the third quarter — the most ever for an Oklahoma City team in a quarter — and shot 67.9% in the third to lead 122-91 heading into the fourth.
Oklahoma City’s largest lead was 37 points.
“Late in the second quarter, they sort of put their head down, Boston did, and they got to the line and they were trying to play through us and they were just trying to like jam their way back into the game,” Daigneault said. “And we needed to stand in there in order to fend that off. And I thought the guys did a really good job of that.”
TIP-INS
Celtics: Mazzulla and G Marcus Smart attended the Oklahoma State-West Virginia game Tuesday in Stillwater and sat together. Smart played college ball for Oklahoma State and Mazzulla played for West Virginia. Oklahoma State won 67-60. … Smart was called for a technical in the second quarter and ejected in the third for berating an official.
Thunder: Even Oklahoma City’s fans were hitting shots from deep. Johnnie Durossette, a 20-year-old from Muskogee, Oklahoma, made the MidFirst Bank halfcourt shot during a timeout to win $20,000. … F Aaron Wiggins scored 17 points.
AT HOME
The Celtics had their shootaround at the Oklahoma City facility where Celtics F Blake Griffin’s AAU basketball program practices. Griffin is from Oklahoma City and he played college ball at the University of Oklahoma.
UP NEXT
Celtics: At Dallas on Thursday night.
Thunder: At Orlando on Wednesday night.
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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: twitter.com/CliffBruntAP
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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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Investigators in west Texas following 5.4 earthquake
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The Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the state’s oil and gas industry, has sent investigators to west Texas following a 5.4 magnitude earthquake near Midland
MIDLAND, Texas — The Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the state’s oil and gas industry, on Saturday sent investigators to west Texas following a 5.4 magnitude earthquake near Midland.
“RRC inspectors will be examining disposal activity at injection well sites near the earthquake,” according to a statement from the commission, “and will take any necessary actions to protect public safety and the environment.”
The Railroad Commission earlier this month directed producers to reduce injection volumes following a 5.4 magnitude earthquake on Nov. 16 in Mentone, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Midland.
The Friday afternoon earthquake, about 315 miles (507 kilometers) west of Dallas, resulted in no injuries and only minimal damage, including no apparent damage to oil and gas wells in the area, said Midland County Emergency Management Coordinator Justin Bunch.
“The only thing we’ve had reported was minor cosmetic damage, cracks in sheetrock, stuff like that” to homes within the city, Bush said Saturday.
The Railroad Commission inspectors had arrived, Bush said.
The earthquake was preliminarily rated a 5.3 magnitude, the fourth strongest in Texas history, then upgraded by the U.S. Geological Survey to 5.4, tying it with the Mentone temblor for third strongest in Texas.
Earthquakes in the south-central United States have been linked to oil and gas production, particularly the underground injection of wastewater, which is a byproduct of oil and gas production.
In neighboring Oklahoma, thousands of earthquakes of varying magnitudes have been recorded in the past decade, leading state regulators to direct producers to close some injection wells.
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Actor Andrea Savage on new show
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Actor Andrea Savage on new show “Tulsa King,” working with Sylvester Stallone – CBS News
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CBS Evening News, December 13, 2022
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CBS Evening News, December 13, 2022 – CBS News
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Tornadoes tear through Texas and Oklahoma amid nationwide severe weather
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Tornadoes tear through Texas and Oklahoma amid nationwide severe weather – CBS News
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Storms with possible tornadoes rake Oklahoma and Texas — injuring at least 7 — as blizzard conditions mount in the northern Plains | CNN
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CNN
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Severe storms including suspected tornadoes have carved paths of destruction in Oklahoma and the Dallas-Fort Worth area Tuesday and injured at least seven people – part of a larger storm system that threatens more damage in the South and blizzard conditions in states farther north.
The giant winter storm system is pushing through the central US after walloping the West. About 21 million people from Texas to Mississippi are under threat of severe storms Tuesday, including tornadoes. And about 14 million people – largely in the north-central US – are under winter-weather warnings or advisories Tuesday, with blowing snow and power outages a key concern.
A tornado watch is in effect for parts of Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas until 5 p.m. CT.
Damage on Tuesday includes:
• Grapevine, Texas: At least one tornado was reported in this city just outside Dallas Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service said, and storms left at least five people there injured, Grapevine police said. Details about the injuries weren’t immediately available.
Businesses including a Grapevine mall, a Sam’s Club and a Walmart were damaged, police said. A gas station was destroyed, and drivers on one road were forced to share a single lane because downed trees and other debris blocked parts of the thoroughfare, motorist Claudio Ropain David told CNN.
• Elsewhere outside Dallas: At least two people were injured, and homes and businesses were damaged, as severe weather hit east of Paradise and south of Decatur in Wise County on Tuesday morning, northwest of Fort Worth, county officials said.
One person was hurt when wind overturned their vehicle, and the other – also in a vehicle – was hurt by flying debris, the Wise County emergency management office said. One was taken to a hospital, the office said without elaborating.
High winds also damaged homes and trees near Callisburg north of Dallas, blew over tractor-trailers near the towns of Millsap and Weatherford; and damaged barns near the town of Jacksboro, the National Weather Service said.
• Wayne, Oklahoma: A suspected tornado in that town knocked out power and damaged homes, outbuildings and barns early Tuesday, officials said, adding no injuries were reported. Homes were flattened or had roofs torn off, and trees were snapped like twigs, video from CNN affiliate KOCO showed.
More severe storms capable of tornadoes, as well as hail and damaging winds are expected Tuesday and Wednesday in the Gulf Coast region as the complex snow-or-rain system sweeps through the central US from north to south.
Across the central and northern Plains and Upper Midwest, heavy, blowing snow and/or freezing rain into Thursday could snarl travel and threaten power outages.
Blizzard warnings – forecasting at least three hours of sustained winds or frequent gusts at 35 mph or greater during considerable snowfall and poor visibility – extended Tuesday from parts of Montana and Wyoming into northeastern Colorado, western Nebraska and South Dakota.
Blizzard conditions were being reported in the morning and early afternoon near the Colorado-Kansas state line. Visibility along Interstate 70 in that area was down to 100 feet, a Kansas Highway Patrol spokesman said on Twitter.
Snowfall through Wednesday morning generally could be 10 to 18 inches in the central and northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Some areas inside the blizzard warning zones – particularly western South Dakota, eastern Wyoming and northwestern Nebraska – could get as many as 24 inches of snow, with winds strong enough to knock down tree limbs and cause power outages, the Weather Prediction Center said.
In Sidney, Nebraska, winds whipped Tuesday morning at 53 mph, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said, “and then you add in the snow, visibility is a quarter mile.”
Interstates in South Dakota could become impassable amid the blizzard conditions, resulting in roadway closures across the state, the South Dakota Department of Transportation warned Monday.
Ice storm warnings were issued for parts of eastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota and western Iowa. Up to two-tenths of an inch of ice could accumulate in some of these areas, forecasters said.
Wintry precipitation “will begin to spread eastward over the Upper Great Lakes late Tuesday and Wednesday and into the Northeast late Wednesday as the storm system continues eastward,” the prediction center said.
Freezing rain and sleet, meanwhile, will be possible through Wednesday in the Upper Midwest.
Meanwhile, the southern end of the storm threatens to bring more tornadoes.
An alert for enhanced risk of severe weather – level 3 of 5 – was issued Tuesday for eastern Texas and the lower Mississippi River Valley, with the main threats including powerful tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail. Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and Lafayette, Louisiana, are part of the threatened area, as is Jackson, Mississippi.
“My main concern with the tornadoes is going to be after dark,” Myers said Tuesday. “We have very short days this time of year, so 5 or 6 o’clock, it’s going to be dark out there. Spotters aren’t as accurate when it is dark. Tornado warnings are a little bit slow; if you’re sleeping, you may not get them. So, that’s the real danger with this storm.”
A zone of slight risk – level 2 of 5 – encircled that area, stretching from eastern Texas and southern Oklahoma to southern Arkansas and much of the rest of Louisiana, including New Orleans, and central Mississippi.
Tuesday also brings a slight risk of excessive rainfall in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, with 2 to 4 inches of rain and flash flooding possible, the Weather Prediction Center said.
On Wednesday, the threat for severe weather is largely focused on the Gulf Coast, with tornadoes and damaging winds possible over parts of southern Louisiana, Mississippi, southwest Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, the Storm Prediction Center said.
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Massive US storm brings tornadoes to South, blizzard threat
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DALLAS (AP) — A massive storm blowing across the country spawned tornadoes in parts of Oklahoma and Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions.
An area stretching from Montana into western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said that as much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow was possible in some areas of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska. Ice and sleet were expected in the eastern Great Plains.
Meanwhile, damage was reported in the Oklahoma town of Wayne after the weather service warned of a “confirmed tornado” shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday. There were no deaths or injuries due to the tornado, McClain County Sheriff’s Capt. Bryan Murrell said. But as authorities began assessing its impact Tuesday morning, it was clear there was widespread damage to Wayne, which is about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City.
“We’ve got multiple family structures with significant damage … barns, power lines down” in and around the town, Murrell said.
National Weather Service meteorologist Doug Speheger said wind speeds reached 111-135 mph (179-211 kph) and the tornado was rated EF-2. It was likely on the ground for about two to four minutes, according to the weather service.
The line of thunderstorms that moved across North Texas in the early morning hours brought tornadoes, damaging winds, hail and heavy rain, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Bradshaw. Authorities on Tuesday morning reported that dozens of homes and businesses were damaged and several people injured.
Bradshaw said there was likely a tornado touchdown in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, where two or three businesses were damaged and some homes as well.
Grapevine police spokesperson Amanda McNew said there have been five confirmed injuries related to the storms there and no fatalities.
“So the main thing is that we’ve got everyone in a safe place,” McNew said just after noon. “And so now we’re starting the process of going through the city looking at damage to property, to businesses, homes and then roads to see what needs to be closed, what we can open and how soon we can open them.”
Several schools lost power in the area and two elementary schools released students early because they were still without power at noon.
In North Richland Hills, another Fort Worth suburb near Grapevine, about 20 homes and businesses were damaged in the storm, North Richland Hills police said. Photos sent by the police department showed a home without a roof, a tree that had been split in half and an overturned vehicle in a parking lot.
There were multiple reports of damage to homes and businesses near Decatur, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of Dallas, the Wise County Office of Emergency Management said. The office of emergency management said one person was injured from flying debris while traveling in their vehicle and the other was injured when their vehicle overturned due to high winds. One person was taken to the hospital and the other was treated at the scene.
Bradshaw said it’s believed to be a tornado that caused the damage south of Decatur.
In parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, the National Weather Service warned that up to about half an inch (2.5 centimeters) of ice could form and winds could gust up to 45 mph (72 kph). Power outages, tree damage, falling branches and hazardous travel conditions all threatened the region.
All of western Nebraska was under a blizzard warning from Tuesday through Thursday, and the National Weather Services said up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of snow was expected in the northwest. Winds of more than 50 mph (80 kph) at times will make it impossible to see outdoors, officials said.
The Nebraska Department of Transportation closed stretches of Interstate 80 and Interstate 76 as heavy snow and high winds made travel dangerous. The Nebraska State Patrol, which was called to deal with several crashes and jackknifed semitrailers overnight, urged people to stay off the roads.
“There’s essentially no one traveling right now,” said Justin McCallum, a manager at the Flying J truck stop at Ogallala, Nebraska. He said he got to work before the roads were closed, but likely won’t be able to get back home Tuesday. “I can see to the first poles outside the doors, but I can’t see the rest of the lot right outside. I’ll probably just get a motel room here tonight.”
A 260-mile (418-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 90 across western South Dakota was closed Tuesday morning due to “freezing rain, heavy snow, and high winds,” the state’s Department of Transportation said. Interstate 29 was also expected to close and secondary highways will likely become “impassable,” the department said.
Xcel Energy, one of the region’s largest electric providers, had boosted staff in anticipation of power outages. A middle school in Sioux Falls lost power Tuesday morning and sent students home early. Power outages affecting about 1,700 customers in the eastern part of the state were reported by utility providers Tuesday.
In southern Minnesota, winds gusting up to 50 mph (80 kph) had reduced visibility and in the Twin Cities metro area, sleet and gravel mixed with rain on the roads.
National Weather Service meteorologist Melissa Dye in the Twin Cities said this is a “long duration event” with snow, ice and rain expected to last at least through Friday night. Minnesota was expecting a lull Wednesday, followed by a second round of snow.
Wet roadways are just as dangerous when temperatures hover around freezing, Dye said.
The storm system was expected to move into the Northeast and central Appalachians with snow and freezing rain by late Wednesday, forecasters said. The severe weather threat also continues into Wednesday for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The weather is part of the same system that dumped heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada and western U.S. in recent days.
In Utah, search and rescue crews on Tuesday located the body of a skier who had gone missing at Solitude Mountain Resort a day earlier as snow continued to blanket Utah and the state’s ski resorts throughout the Wasatch Range.
Salt Lake County law enforcement told KSL-TV the skier, a 37-year-old man, had been found dead Tuesday morning. The skier, who they did not name, was last seen on a chairlift in the afternoon and reported missing around 7 p.m.
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Groves reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press writers Ken Miller in Oklahoma City; Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas; Sam Metz in Salt Lake City; Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis; and Margery Beck in Omaha, Nebraska contributed to this report.
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