Local & Regional

Aero, Tulsa's bus rapid transit service, is now running.

Aero covers Peoria Avenue from 54th Street North to 81st Street South, with buses running about every 15 minutes.

Jaquetta Waters, a regular bus rider made a shopping trip on Aero Monday morning from downtown to the 81st Street Walmart.

"It’s faster. They drive faster. They do. Because I guess it’s so many buses that they’ve got now," Waters said.

Tulsa County will hold an election early next year to let citizens decide whether to allow retail liquor sales on Sunday. Smaller Mom and Pop type stores say new liquor laws give large stores an unfair advantage. County Commission Chair Karen Keith says if citizens say yes and stores want to stay open Sundays, they would have the option. If they don’t want Sunday hours, they can stay closed.

New laws allow Sunday sales, but it’s by county option. Tulsa’s vote will be March 3rd.

A ribbon-cutting for part of the new Tulsa Family Justice Center will be held this Friday. County Juvenile Justice Director Justin Jones says the additional space and upgraded facilities are sorely needed. Family and juvenile justice court and related facilities will be located in the new larger center at the old Storey Wrecker site near the jail.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry has received lab results for a horse in Remington Park, which has tested positive for Equine Herpesvirus-1. 

Doctor Michael Herring, ODAFF Assistant State Veterinarian, says the horse was euthanized Tuesday evening and the barn it was in will be under quarantine for 14 days. 

Symptoms of EHV-1 include fever, incoordination, and weakness or paralysis of the hind limbs. The virus is not transmittable to humans, but is quickly passed between horses through the air, as well as contact with nasal secretions. 

Three people are dead in the parking lot of the Duncan, Oklahoma Walmart. The dead are two men and a woman. The shooter is among the dead. No names have been released.

Law enforcement, in the town  of 22,000, has the parking lot sealed off while an investigation in underway. It appears a pistol was the weapon used.  The shooting did not happen in the store. 

Two people were dead inside a car, the third was found in the parking lot. Police Chief Danny Ford told reporters the people did know each other. However, he stopped short of calling it a domestic issue.

Local media are reporting that several people have been injured in a shooting at a Walmart store in Oklahoma.

Police say people were shot and wounded Monday morning at the store's parking lot in Duncan, Oklahoma. The Highway Patrol reports the shooter is dead.  Two men and a woman are reported dead. It is unclear if the shooter is included in that total.

A dispatcher tells The Associated Press that “everyone is at the scene.”

Tulsa gas prices have fallen 8.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.16/g today, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 321 stations. Gas prices in Tulsa are 2.5 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, yet stand 3.4 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

A pair of veterans is trying to bring a World War II submarine to Louisville.

The Courier Journal reports, Mark Gatton got the idea when he learned that the USS Ling was going to be scrapped in New Jersey.

The Air Force veteran, with his friend Army veteran Lewis Palmer are raising funds to restore the submarine, with the ultimate goal of docking it on the Ohio River. They hope it will be the centerpiece of a World War II-focused Louisville Naval Museum.

Halloween has past and it is no longer okay to dress as a fireman. The Tulsa Fire Department says someone is doing just that. He has been spotted at Tulsa nightspots wearing a Tulsa Fire Department Uniform tee-shirt. The Department is not cool with that, especially when the man tells bar patrons he is a firefighter. The Department has pictures. They say he isn’t. 

Upper trough continue to move through the Central Plains this morning and has resulted in widespread mid and high clouds cover over the region. Surface obs upstream mostly showing ceilings above 10 kft and few if any reports of rain reaching the ground.

Brandon Rachal had a career-high 30 points to help Tulsa hold off Austin Peay for a 72-65 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Darien Jackson also posted a career best, totaling 16 points. Rachel, who was 9 of 12 from the floor and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line, also grabbed seven rebounds for Tulsa (3-1).

State veterinary officials say a horse at Remington Park in Oklahoma City has been euthanized after testing positive for Equine Herpesvirus-1.

Assistant state veterinarian Dr. Michael Herrin said Friday that the horse was euthanized Tuesday and the barn where it was housed is under quarantine for 14 days.

All horses remaining in the quarantined barn will remain there and will be monitored daily for symptoms of EHV-1 that include fever, a lack of coordination and weakness or paralysis of the legs.

Tulsa police make an arrested in connection to a deadly shooting at a north Tulsa park.

Police were called for Norvell Park and found a man dead. dead at the scene in a car. He has been shot in the chest.  The park is near Riverside and Southwest Boulevard.

Detectives believe it was a robbery gone bad.  As of this writing, the victim’s name has not been released.

18-year-old Phillip Moment was arrested for taking part in the robbery attempt.

Two Stillwell men are rushed to the hospital after a pick-up crash in I-244 at Yale in Tulsa. The pick-up slammed into construction zone warning barrels are then rolled numerous times. Injured were the driver 31-year-old Taylor Gainey and 61-year-old Bruce Gainey.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says both men were admitted in stable condition at St-John Medical Center with head and internal injuries.

Tulsa Transit’s long awaited Rapid Bus Transit service is underway. The service along Peoria Avenue started this morning. The service provides a bus weekdays every 15-minutes from 54th Street North to 81st Street South.

The Aero BRT runs 7 days a week with 15 minutes service during peak travel times (6:00 am to 9:45 am and 3:00 pm to 7:40 pm) and 20 minute service during non peak times. 

Weekday service starts at 5:20 am and runs until 10:30 pm.

Saturday service is every 20 minutes from 5:20 am to 10:30 pm.

Class 5A=First Round:

Bishop Kelley 27, Collinsville 0

Carl Albert 48, Duncan 7

Coweta 42, Tahlequah 21

McAlester 49, Claremore 28

McGuinness 46, Ardmore 14

Noble 28, Woodward 14

Piedmont 24, El Reno 21

Tulsa Edison 55, Pryor 27

Class 6A Division I-Quarterfinal:

Broken Arrow 35, Union 31

Jenks 55, Mustang 28

Moore 41, Edmond Santa Fe 28

Owasso 52, Norman 14

Class 6A Division II=Quarterfinal:

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says it’s investigating two separate suspicious deaths in the state.

The OSBI says the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office asked for assistance after an unidentified body was found Thursday near Caddo, about 120 miles  south of Oklahoma City.

OSBI spokeswoman Brooke Arbeitman says the body was sent to the state medical examiner to determine the identity and cause of death.

The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals has upheld the class action designation of a lawsuit against an oil company over damage caused by earthquakes near Prague in November 2011, including one of magnitude 5.7.

The court on Friday rejected the appeal of New Dominion LLC in the lawsuit filed by Jennifer Lin Cooper. Three other oil companies originally included in the lawsuit agreed to a settlement in December.

A Broken Arrow couple is charged in the death of their 3-year-old daughter who they had adopted less than a year ago.

Court documents show 25-year-old Kelsey Seaman was charged Friday with first-degree murder, child abuse, child neglect and obstructing an officer in the Nov. 6 death of Faith Seaman.

Her husband, Glen Seaman, is charged with enabling child abuse, child neglect and obstructing an officer in the death of the girl, who was adopted by the couple last December.

Court records do not list attorneys to speak on behalf of either parent.

An Oklahoma judge who last summer ordered consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million to help address the state’s opioid crisis is reducing that amount by $107 million in his final order in the case.

District Judge Thad Balkman on Friday issued the order directing the company to pay the state $465 million, acknowledging that he miscalculated in his original award how much it would cost to develop a program for treating babies born addicted to opioids. The cost should have been $107,000, not $107 million.

Two state lawmakers from Tulsa will introduce a student loan borrower’s bill of rights next session.

Democratic Reps. Melissa Provenzano and John Waldron see Oklahoma’s $13.5 billion share of student loan debt as a problem, especially as average balances approach $30,000 and delinquencies and defaults rise year after year.

Karen Gray with ACTION Tulsa said many borrowers are facing tough choices when it comes to paying off those debts.

USA BMX is ready to get started on its new national headquarters in north Tulsa.

The organization held a groundbreaking along with City of Tulsa officials Friday at the long-dormant Evans Fintube site for the $23 million project. The facility was originally planned for the old Drillers Stadium at 15th Street and Yale Avenue, but that site fell through over conflicting concession contracts.

A Tulsa man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court for stealing $368,329.61 from his employer, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

Chief U.S. District Judge John E. Dowdell sentenced Ernest Everette Howard, 49, of Tulsa, to 15 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for wire fraud.  The court further ordered Howard to pay $368,329.61 in restitution.

The new Turkey Mountain master plan is made public. Under the plan released last night, the wilderness park will be greatly expanded.

The proposal calls for the park to be expanded east across the Arkansas River to Johnson Park at 61st and Riverside Drive. It also called for an expansion west of Highway 75 to what is now Bales Park.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says a Tulsa man was killed when the vehicle he was driving crashed while being pursued by troopers.

OHP spokeswoman Sarah Stewart said Thursday that 35-year-old Aaron Starks died in the single-vehicle crash Monday afternoon on Interstate 44 near Chandler, about 40 miles east of Oklahoma City.

Stewart said Starks was driving a stolen car and being pursued by two highway patrol troopers at speeds of nearly 120 miles per hour when he lost control while swerving to avoid stop sticks placed on the roadway by a third trooper.

Gov. Kevin Stitt held a news conference Thursday afternoon to announce there’s been no progress renegotiating tribal gaming compacts.

Stitt remains firm in his position compacts expire and stood in front of a poster-size printout of the relevant clause for emphasis.

"The fact is, it expires on Jan. 1, 2020. This is going to cause extreme uncertainty if we don’t have a new compact before Jan. 1, 2020," Stitt said.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum delivered a jubilant third state of the city address on Thursday at the Cox Business Center.

Bynum said accomplishments of the past year include major business announcements, improvements in public safety, various programs to help local schools, and a united, regional response to spring natural disasters. Bynum said afterward his job as mayor won’t be finished by the end of next year.

Only a handful of new flu cases are reported in the past week in Oklahoma, bringing the total statewide to 73. To date, it doesn’t seem to be heading toward a record, but Tony Sellars with the State Health Department says the peak doesn’t hit until after the holidays, so it’s too early to tell what kind of flu season it’s going to be.

Tulsa County leads in hospitalizations with 24, four times the number of the next nearest county. The only death this season has been in Tulsa County. The fatality was in the older population, one of the groups most vulnerable.