The irony is that I'm in constant flight from future gadgets.  

Firefighters in haz-mat suits surround a smoking rail car at the Port of Catoosa. Nearby, people are being hosed down in a decontamination area. It looks like a real chemical spill, but it’s actually a training simulation. Lead exercise controller Sean Hagerty says it’s designed to promote cooperation between emergency responders.                                  

The Oklahoma National Guard, Tulsa police and fire, Verdigris and Claremore fire, and Port personnel all took part in the exercise.        

For this installment of ST,  we are looking back on a remarkable year in the tenure  of our nation's greatest president, Abraham Lincoln. Our guest is journalist David Von Drehle, author of, "Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year. Von Drehle argues that the truly pivotal year of the American Civil War was 1862 --- not 1863, as many historians have asserted in the past.

On this installment of ST, we speak by phone with the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes, whose previous books include "Force of Nature" and "No Matter How Loud I Shout," and whose latest book, just recently out in paperback, is "Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash." This book presents a fascinating and highly detailed profile of America's biggest export, its most prodigious product, and perhaps its greatest legacy: garbage.

East Tulsa businesses may soon get a knock on the door from the Tulsa Police Department. A rash of mail thefts in east Tulsa has Police Financial Crimes Detectives going door-to-door in office complexes warning of the danger.

An electrical fire in the basement of the Tulsa Community College Metro Campus has forced the college to call-off classes for at least today. The blaze caused extensive damage to the electrical system. There is no generator back-up for the facility.

A damage assessment is getting underway today. The college's IT department will be working to relocate servers and files which were also apparently stored in the basement.

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. (AP) — Authorities say a police officer shot and killed a man who'd taken a toddler hostage at a Walmart Market in suburban Oklahoma City.

Midwest City Police Assistant Chief Sid Porter says the child wasn't harmed in the incident Monday afternoon. Police say the man took the 2-year-old girl out of her mother's shopping cart and held a knife to the child. Porter says the store was evacuated within minutes and police began negotiating with the man.

Porter says an officer opened fire after the man began "counting down" on the girl's life.

Plans for Tulsa's newest park to be developed along the Arkansas River are to be revealed tonight.

Donors and architects will present the plans to residents this evening  at the downtown Tulsa Community College Center for Creativity.

The project called "A Gathering Place for Tulsa" by its designers is being led by the George Kaiser Family Foundation. The foundation has pledged over $100 million toward the project. It will built adjacent to the  River Parks and the Arkansas River Pedestrian Bridge.

Topping the local news:

• Plans for "The Gathering" will be unveiled tonight.
• Classes as called off at the downtown TCC campus following a fire in the basement.
• Mayor Bartlett pushes city councilors to put a public safety tax on the ballot.