Local & Regional

Gov. Kevin Stitt today signed a bill into law that will increase the speed limit on Oklahoma turnpikes from 75 to 80 miles per hour and on certain state highways from 70 to 75 miles per hour.

Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, is the House author of House Bill 1071. Sen. John Michael Montgomery, R-Lawton, is the Senate author.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed the life sentence of a woman convicted of killing her adult daughter by forcing a crucifix and medallion down her throat because she believed the woman was possessed by the devil.

The appeals court Thursday upheld the first-degree murder conviction of 52-year-old Juanita Gomez in the 2016 death of 33-year-old Geneva Gomez.

The Oklahoma Legislature has approved a bill to prevent cities and towns from imposing a fee on single-use plastic and paper bags and it will now proceed to the governor’s office.

The measure aims to bar local governments from prohibiting or taxing “auxiliary containers” used for carrying groceries, carryout and other bought items.

Tulsa Fire investigators are searching for the exact cause of an early morning fire in west Tulsa. Numerous Recreational Vehicles caught fire at the Bob Hurley dealership near the Turner Turnpike gate.

Tulsa Fire spokesman Andy Little says several RVs were on fire when trucks rolled the scene just before daybreak this morning. It appears the blaze was set.

No damage estimate has been released, but it is expected to be high, as RVs are usually very expensive. No one was injured.

Oklahoma's attorney general is renewing his request that President Trump pardon for a former U.S. solider from Oklahoma convicted of killing an Iraqi prisoner.

Attorney General Mike Hunter supports a pardon for former Army Lt. Michael Behenna, first requesting one in February 2018.

Behenna was convicted in 2009 of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone after killing a suspected al-Qaida terrorist. He was paroled in 2014 and remains on parole until 2024.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has vetoed his first bill, rejecting a proposal sent to him by fellow Republicans to create a new 14-member panel meant to study home-based services.

Stitt late Tuesday issued a veto message for the bill to create the Oklahoma Home- and Community-Based Services Ombudsman Task Force. The bill directed the group to study the issue, compile data and make recommendations to the governor and Legislature.

Severe thunderstorms rumbled across North Texas, the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas, producing several tornadoes and unleashing widespread hail.

A twister removed the roof from a home in the western Oklahoma town of Shattuck. Tornado sirens sounded at Pawhuska and Bartlesville late last night. However, no major damage was reported.

American Airlines workers in Tulsa are demonstrating against what they call unsafe and economically damaging practices by the company. Transport Workers Union Local 514 President, Dale Danker, says maintenance on too many planes is outsourced to other countries, and plans are to increase that number. He claims outsourcing increases the safety risk to the public and crews.

Danker says the practice also hurts Tulsa economically because of the large maintenance base here. He says the purpose of the rally is to make people aware of the situation with the airlines.

A former U.S. attorney who prosecuted the Oklahoma City bombing case has been appointed to oversee a grand jury investigation into former University of Oklahoma President David Boren.

The Oklahoma attorney general’s office confirmed Wednesday that Pat Ryan was appointed special counsel to a multicounty grand jury unit after Attorney General Mike Hunter recused himself.

Hunter spokesman Alex Gerszewski says Hunter’s recusal ensures the office can continue to represent the university in other matters. The Oklahoman newspaper first reported Ryan’s appointment.

Oklahoma’s public Pre-K program scored among the top eight states in the nation in a new report from the influential National Institute for Early Education Research. 

In “The State of Preschool 2018” annual report, Oklahoma met 9 of 10 benchmarks in quality standards, including academic standards, class size and staff professional development. Only three states met all 10 benchmarks, and four states tied Oklahoma with nine benchmarks.

Boeing Co. has won a $14.3 billion contract to service and maintain all B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress bombers at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City.

In a statement last week, the Department of Defense said the contract includes hardware and software development and integration, ground and flight testing, configuration management, studies and analyses and modernization.

The Oklahoman reports that the agreement continues a decade-old contract to service aircraft at Tinker, which is a major part of the Air Force's maintenance, repair and overhaul network.

An Oklahoma City businessman and lawyer has been appointed to the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents.

Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt announced the appointment Tuesday of Gary Pierson to the panel that oversees the state's flagship university as well as Cameron and Rogers State universities.

Pierson's appointment follows the February death of Regent Billy Wayne Burgess Jr. and requires approval by the state Senate.

The estate of a 25-year-old woman who died in prison is dropping its lawsuit against the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

Amber Hilberling was serving a 25-year prison sentence for pushing her husband to his death from the 25th floor of their high-rise apartment complex in Tulsa. Hilberling had argued she was acting in self-defense, but she was convicted of second-degree murder.

A coalition of business and faith leaders is pushing a package of bills aimed at lowering Oklahoma's highest-in-the-nation prison incarceration rate.

Led by former Republican House Speaker Kris Steele, the group called on the Legislature Tuesday to pass the package of bills aimed at stopping Oklahoma's skyrocketing prison population.

Here is your one stop location for information you need concerning our severe weather threat in Green Country.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says a McAlester man was killed when he ran into the path of a train and was struck by the locomotive.

An OHP report says 26-year-old Colby Crawley died when he was struck Monday just north of McAlester in southeastern Oklahoma.

The report says Crawley was running eastward when he ran onto the railroad track and was hit by the northbound Union Pacific train.

Two men on the train were not injured.

The report says investigators are trying to determine why Crawley ran in front of the train.

The City of Tulsa holds another townhall meeting on the 'Improve Our Tulsa' tax renewal proposal. It will be at the Lewis and Clark Elementary School at 7th and South Garnett. It begins at 6 p.m. Right now, the plan tops out at $597-million.

It would bring in an estimated $427 million from property taxes over six years and $170 million from a half-cent sales tax over four years.

The City of Tulsa holds another townhall meeting on the 'Improve Our Tulsa' tax renewal proposal. It will be at the Lewis and Clark Elementary School at 7th and South Garnett. It begins at 6 p.m. Right now, the plan tops out at $597-million.

It would bring in an estimated $427 million from property taxes over six years and $170 million from a half-cent sales tax over four years.

A state audit shows that financial supervision of Murray County's 911 emergency call center was so slack that governing board members once gave a $65,000 check to a company that was only required to be paid $650.

Inspectors say the Murray County 911 Trust Authority board took almost two months to correct the error. The authority received over $1.1 million during the audit period, which was July 2015 to June 2017.

Breezy south winds will continue this morning, with gusts increasing to around 25 to 35 mph by this afternoon. This will result in a limited fire danger for parts of northeast Oklahoma mainly northwest of Interstate 44. A dryline will develop across southwest Oklahoma Wednesday afternoon, with a cold front draped across Kansas into northwest Oklahoma. A strong capping inversion should limit thunderstorm development for much of the day, with development likely holding off until late afternoon and into Wednesday evening.

The National Rifle Association has sued its longtime advertising agency, accusing the company that has helped shape its Second Amendment advocacy of withholding crucial financial details in its billing documents.

The lawsuit filed Friday in Alexandria, Virginia, says Oklahoma City-based Ackerman McQueen is contractually bound to show backing paperwork on its bills to the NRA. But the NRA says the firm has only partly complied or “baldly ignored” requests for more information.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has picked a retired Air Force general and aerospace industry consultant as his secretary of veterans affairs and military, filling the last spot on his cabinet.

Stitt announced on Monday his selection of retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Ben Robinson to the cabinet post that requires Senate confirmation.

A deadline kills all but one-fifth of 28-hundred bills filed pre-session in this state legislature, but most lobbied for by Tulsa County remain alive. County Director of Governmental Affairs Terry Simonson calls it a good record. He says of the 28 deemed important to Tulsa County, 25 survive. About eight are already signed, and another dozen or so are expected to make it to the Governor’s desk in the next two weeks or so.

A couple of the most important still surviving includes a measure on rapid DNA for the jail and a bill to set up energy-saving zones in the county.

The second of five citywide town hall meetings scheduled for discussion about renewing Improve Our Tulsa will be held Tuesday, April 16, at 6 p.m. in the Lewis and Clark Elementary School auditorium, 737 S. Garnett Road. Spanish language interpreters will be available at the meeting. 

Officials in Oklahoma City have approved a financing plan for a food hall in an area damaged in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building almost 24 years ago.

The Journal Record reports that the city council approved $390,000 to help complete the food hall in former commercial property in an area north of downtown. The project is part of the ongoing response to the terrorist attack that destroyed the federal building on April 19, 1995

 Strong south winds will develop by mid morning into early afternoon with gusts up to 35 mph possible this afternoon. Recent rainfall over the weekend may limit the overall fire weather risk for some locations. The strong winds will result in increased fire spread rates for the afternoon hours for much of the area, however.   Warm and windy conditions will continue for Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of a strong system that will move into the Plains.

Linda Woodruff and her family raise the Japanese breed of Wagyu cattle on their family farm, Silverwood Wagyu, east of Fairmont.

The name comes from “Wa,” which means Japanese, and “Gyu,” which means cow. Silverwood also is a hybrid name, as Woodruff’s son, Jeremy, manages the farm’s website and her daughter, Stacey Silver, and Stacey’s husband, Justin, manage the day-to-day operation of the farm.