Local & Regional

Oklahoma prison officials say an inmate on the state's death row has apparently taken his own life.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Elliott said Wednesday that 35-year-old Jeremy Williams was found dead in his cell at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Authorities say members of the prison's staff discovered Williams' body while conducting a head count on death row at about 11:14 p.m. on Saturday.

OWASSO, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma prosecutor says police officers in a Tulsa suburb were justified when they fatally shot a man who authorities say threatened them with an AK-47 assault rifle.

Authorities say 39-year-old Duane Preciado was shot and killed March 21 in Owasso. Preciado carried the rifle as he met Owasso Officers Casey Lawson and Laura Lehner while they responded to requests for a welfare check. Authorities said Preciado was shot as he moved toward the officers while making threatening comments.

The Oklahoma Department of Labor recognized Tulsa’s pioneering craft brewery Wednesday not for its beer, but for its way of doing business. 

Marshall Brewing Company received the Mark Costello Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence, created by and renamed after the late Commissioner Costello. The award recognizes Oklahomans for expanding job opportunities in the state.

Oklahoma officially ranks last in summer lunch participation for 2017, the same spot it held in 2016.

That’s according to the Food Research and Action Center’s review of programs to feed low-income kids last year in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report shows fewer than one in 20 kids eligible for free and reduced-price lunches received summer meals.

The ranking seems not to square with state figures released last fall saying participation was up 14 percent from 2016. FRAC’s report, however, looks only at July.

The Tulsa Zoo will close to the public on Friday, June 15, 2018, as zoo staff and volunteers prepare for the annual fundraising gala, WALTZ On The Wild Side. 

Standing for We All Love the Tulsa Zoo, WALTZ has been integral for funding some of the zoo’s most important exhibits, while offering guests a zoo transformed for an evening of fine cuisine from more than 40 area restaurants, libations, live music and unique animal encounters. 

Health officials want military members and veterans in Oklahoma to listen to former smokers in a national stop-smoking campaign.

Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Executive Director John Woods said the state’s 32,000 active-duty personnel and 280,000 veterans smoke at a much higher rate than other Oklahomans.

If Verizon is your phone provider, you may have looked at your phone today and wondered. "What’s wrong with this thing?"

The answer was nothing.

The problem was on Verizon’s end. A cut fiber optic cable knocked out service in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City, as well as some other Oklahoma communities.

In an email to KWGS News, Verizon said:

"

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says one person was killed this morning on Highway 20, about half-way between Owasso and Claremore.

The crash took place at Keetonville Hill about 6 this morning. It is a two-lane highway at that point. The Patrol says a pick-up truck and a passenger car collided head-on.

A person in the car was killed.  The Limestone Fire Department and Owasso paramedics responded to the scene to assist the Highway Patrol. The roadway was shut down, both directions, at Keetonville while the Highway Patrol investigated the crash.

A multi-state crime spree comes to an end in Tulsa County. A couple from Fort Smith is in the Tulsa County Jail this morning.

In custody this morning are Scott and Stephanie Mitchell of Fort Smith. They are accused of abducting their biological son from guardians in Washington State. They were arrested separately in Owasso and Tulsa.

The five year-old boy is fine. They were also in the possession of a stolen vehicle, according to authorities. 

A 17-year-old in Tulsa will soon learn whether his defense can use state funds to hire mental health experts ahead of a jury trial in a teacher's death and other crimes.

Deonte Green's defense team asked last month for a jury to evaluate whether he's legally competent to stand trial for first-degree murder in the October shooting of Shane Anderson, the reported rape of an elderly woman and many other felony counts.

A hardy, invasive species of tick that survived a New Jersey winter and subsequently traversed the mid-Atlantic has mysteriously arrived in Arkansas. No one is sure how the Longhorned tick, native to East Asia, arrived in the country, nor how it made its way to the middle of the continent.

State finance officials say collections to Oklahoma's main operating fund exceeded the monthly estimate by nearly 20 percent, a jump attributed largely to continued economic recovery.

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported Tuesday that collections to the General Revenue Fund in May totaled nearly $500 million, about $82 million more than expected.

OMES Director Denise Northrup says lower-than-expected corporate and personal income tax refunds are partially responsible for the spike.

A program to help food entrepreneurs in Tulsa is growing and making a new home in Mother Road Market.

Although the market won't open until at least August, Kitchen 66's area within it is ready for business. Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation Director of Food Innovation Adele Beasley said 2,800 square feet of commercial kitchen space is just one of the perks for up-and-coming restaurateurs, caterers, food trucks and packaged product makers.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — State finance officials say collections to Oklahoma's main operating fund exceeded the monthly estimate by nearly 20 percent, a jump attributed largely to continued economic recovery.

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported Tuesday that collections to the General Revenue Fund in May totaled nearly $500 million, about $82 million more than expected.

OMES Director Denise Northrup says lower-than-expected corporate and personal income tax refunds are partially responsible for the spike.

A new analysis says there are problems with Medicaid work requirements in states like Oklahoma that didn’t expand the program.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Judy Solomon said the people who would be affected by work requirements face a lot of barriers to meeting them.

"Such as a lack of transportation, living in a rural part of the state, not having, you know, skills or training, and often having health conditions that may not rise to the level of a disability but interfere with work," Solomon said.

One man is dead following a head on crash with a Skiatook school bus. The bus was carrying nine female basketball players home from a tournament when a SUV crossed the center-line and hit the bus head-on. Sergeant Shane Tuell says the driver of the SUV was killed.

The bus driver was taken to the hospital for observation. None of the girls were injured. The crash happened on East Pine near 121st East Avenue.

The Cherokee Nation is testing over 180 patients who may have been exposed to Hepatitis C or HIV at the tribe’s hospital in Tahlequah.

W.W. Hastings Hospital CEO Brian Hail told the tribe council they are still looking for some patients.

Hail says a nurse did not follow proper procedure when administering medication through an IV. At no time, he says, did the needle ever touch a patient. The nurse is no longer with the hospital.

So far, all the tests have come back negative. 

Oklahoma officials say pollution guidelines for cities and farms along the Illinois River are just weeks away.

The Tulsa world reports that Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and Environment Michael Teague predicts the multiparty agreement to implement water-quality models will be signed by the end of June.

Teague's prediction comes after a Thursday meeting with Environmental Protection Agency administrators and directors of the Arkansas and Oklahoma departments of environmental quality.

An Oklahoma prison was left without water after the water tower emptied following repairs to a water line break.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections said Monday that crews are working to find the cause of the problem at the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite while two, 1,000 gallon water tanks are being used to provide water.

The department says the tower was found to be empty Sunday after repairs were made Saturday to a water line break.

The Tulsa County Sheriff is on track to hire outside counsel as it fights a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Suha Elqutt accuses deputies of making her remove her hijab in public in order to enter the courthouse in April. Sheriff Vic Regalado said the issues in the case are outside the purview of the district attorney’s office.

"Oftentimes, depending on the complexity of the case, there’s a mutual agreement between the district attorney’s office and the sheriff’s office to hire outside counsel on several different cases," Regalado said.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in two cases related to teacher pay raise bills.

Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite wants a referendum on the ballot overturning House Bill 1010XX, a special session tax bill the pay raise bill is contingent upon. Attorney Blake Sonne said the state constitution doesn’t allow veto referenda on laws necessary for the public peace, health or safety.

"House Bill 1010 was a revenue-raising measure specifically passed in extraordinary circumstances to fund a state crisis in public education," Sonne said.

Broken Arrow Mayor Craig Thurmond has been awarded first place honors at the 2018 City Livability Awards Program during The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 86th Annual Meeting in Boston.

Riverside Drive will open to traffic between 21st Street and 41st Street at 6 a.m. Sept. 10.  That is two days after the grand opening of the Gathering Place.

“When Riverside Drive reopens on September 10, it will be one of the iconic stretches of road in our city,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said. “As Tulsans will see, it has been straightened and leveled. But most importantly, it will transport people through the majesty of the Gathering Place and River Parks. This is an exciting time for Tulsa.”

A man is dead following a home invasion just before dawn today near 51st and South Sheridan.

A resident of the home apparently confronted the burglar and was shot and killed. The shooter fled the scene.

Another person was in the home, possibly the dead man’s wife. Police are talking with her in an attempt to learn more.

The incident happened about 5:15 this morning. 

On October 1st  we will be right in the middle of a gubernatorial race. Political ads will be everywhere. It might be a good thing that is when Oklahoma’s liquor laws will change.

On October 1st, strong wine and beer will be sold in supermarkets. Lisette Barnes with the Oklahoma Beer Alliance says there will larger selections as well. It could also mean higher prices because of a change in the way distriubtion is handled in the state.

The intersection of West 15th Street and South Denver Avenue will be closed starting Monday, June 11, for five days to continue work for replacement of a 6-inch waterline and segments of a 30-inch waterline. This work is in preparation for a street reconstruction project to begin at a later date. 

The attorney for a former Oklahoma correctional officer guilty of using unreasonable force on a detainee says he's been hired by another police department.

The Oklahoman reports Sunday that Jason Barber was sentenced last week to one year of probation and 10 weekends in jail. A former correctional officer in Canadian County, Barber was accused of hitting a pretrial detainee during a disciplinary hearing in December 2014.