Local & Regional

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt says the state's 15th multicounty grand jury has been empaneled.

The new grand jury was empaneled on Wednesday at the Oklahoma County Courthouse. It will convene for its first session on Feb. 17 and will convene again on March 17. Further dates will be selected next month.

The multicounty grand jury was requested by Attorney General Scott Pruitt and approved by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in November.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Humane Society of the United States is suing Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt over an investigation into the organization's fundraising.

The head of the attorney general's Public Protection Unit calls the lawsuit unwarranted.

The number of Tulsa County influenza deaths more than doubled last week. The State Health Department confirms there were 16 flu deaths in the past week and almost half of those were in Tulsa County.

The Tulsa City County Health Department's Leanne Stephens says Tulsa County recorded seven deaths in the past week.  That brings Tulsa County's death toll to 11. 

So far this season, 47 people have died from the flu in Oklahoma. 23% of those deaths have been in Tulsa County.

Seven people are left homeless following an overnight fire near Kellyville. The mobile home was destroyed by the blaze.

The people in the home all managed to get out of the house. However, a pregnant woman and a child were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Buoyed by conservative gains in the November election, foes of abortion are mobilizing on behalf of bills in Congress and several states that would further curtail women's access to the procedure.

On both sides of the debate, activists are highlighting their hopes and concerns in conjunction with Thursday's anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The Creek Nation is planning to present a rare, early map of the city of Tulsa to leaders later this week.

The map reflecting the early land ownership of the city will be presented Friday by Creek Nation Principal Chief George Tiger to Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett at the Tulsa Historical Society & Museum.

Tiger says Creek citizens were each allotted 160 acres of land, and those allotments covered the entire area of the city.

Tulsa Police Homicide Detectives quickly arrest 26-year-old Mathew Hannah. He is accused of the murder of 70-year-old Gerald Hail of Inola.

Hail was the subject of a 'Silver Alert' from Rogers County. His body was found by a made inside a Tulsa motel late yesterday morning. Hail's pick-up truck was missing.

Detectives used motel video to spot Hail and Hannah at the complex. The pick-up was recovered near Latimer and Sheridan behind a church. Police found Hannah in north Tulsa late yesterday afternoon.

He is being held in the Tulsa jail.

In Our Local News:

• Rain and snow stays south of Tulsa.
• The DHS offers programs to help foster parents.
• A Tulsa arrest is made in the murder of an Inola man

There’s more time for artists to apply for a new fellowship to work in the Tulsa region.

Stanton Doyle with the George Kaiser Family Foundation said they’re trying to recruit artists to come to or stay in Tulsa.

"And the primary objective is to provide incentives for artists to move to Tulsa, provide them with a stipend and the resources to create their art here, and just contribute to our community," Doyle said. "We feel there's a real value in having artists live and work in our community."

Police are investigating the murder of an elderly man whose body was discovered at a Tulsa motel a day after he went missing.

Evidence indicates 70-year-old Gerald Hail of Inola was murdered. Officer Leland Ashley says Hail’s truck is still missing, and police are asking the public for help. The pickup is described as a white four door Ford F-150 with a camper shell and an Oklahoma license tag number of 683-FJK.