In brief: Tornado kills person, injures others in Oklahoma
TULSA, Okla. – The slow start to the nation’s tornado season came to a violent end Wednesday, when tornadoes raked Tulsa during its evening rush hour, killing one person and injuring others.
Tulsa County Sheriff’s Capt. Billy McKelvey said one person was killed in a mobile home park near suburban Sand Springs that was nearly destroyed Wednesday amid severe weather. It wasn’t clear whether it was a tornado or straight-line winds that hit the park, which McKelvey said could accommodate 40 to 50 trailers. McKelvey said he thought at least 15 people were hurt.
“It could have been much worse,” he said.
Tornadoes were seen elsewhere in Oklahoma, as well as in Arkansas, but no injuries were reported from those.
Police: Boy shoots brothers, kills self
HUDSON, Fla. – Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said Wednesday that a 13-year-old boy shot and killed his 6-year-old brother, wounded his 16-year-old brother and then fatally turned the gun on himself after an argument over food.
The shooting happened shortly after 6 p.m. in Hudson, a community in suburban Pasco County about an hour north of downtown Tampa.
During a news conference Wednesday evening, Nocco said the teen used a handgun during the shooting in the family’s mobile home.
The three brothers were home alone eating dinner when an argument over food broke out.
“This is a horrific scene,” Nocco said. “This is a nightmare.”
Details such as the victims’ names and how the teen obtained the gun weren’t immediately available.
The three boys lived in the home with their mother and an 18-year-old brother. The mom was at work, and the 18-year-old wasn’t home.
VA official retires amid investigation
DENVER – The top Department of Veterans Affairs official in charge of construction nationwide retired Wednesday amid an internal investigation of delays and massive cost overruns at the Denver veterans hospital, the agency said.
Glenn Haggstrom’s departure was immediate, the department said. In a written statement, the VA said problems at the hospital under construction in the Denver suburb of Aurora were unacceptable.
The VA said last week the new facility would cost $1.73 billion, more than twice the estimated cost at the time the first contracts were awarded in 2010. The department also was under fire for cost overruns and construction delays at veterans hospitals in New Orleans, Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida.
Bill easing concealed gun law advances
TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas is poised to join a handful of other states that allow their residents to carry concealed firearms without a permit after the Legislature gave final approval Wednesday to a bill backed by the National Rifle Association.
The measure was headed to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback despite some lawmakers’ misgivings about the state dropping its requirement that anyone seeking to carry a concealed firearm undergo at least eight hours of training. Brownback’s office didn’t say what his plans are, but he’s signed every other major gun-rights measure sent to him since taking office in January 2011.
Kansas would become the fifth state to allow concealed carry without a permit everywhere within its borders, according to the NRA.
Woman who was cut for fetus recovering
LONGMONT, Colo. – A Colorado woman whose unborn baby was cut from her womb by a stranger with a kitchen knife has been released from a hospital a week after the gruesome attack.
The family of Michelle Wilkins, 26, said in a statement Wednesday that she is in a safe location with her partner, Dan, and faces a long and costly recovery. The baby girl she planned to name Aurora did not survive.
Police say Dynel Lane, 34, lured Wilkins to her home on March 18 with a Craigslist ad offering baby clothes. Lane then beat and stabbed Wilkins and removed the unborn child. Lane was arrested at a hospital after telling her husband she had suffered a miscarriage. Prosecutors plan to charge her Friday.
Wilkins, who had recently moved to Colorado and was teaching pottery classes, was about eight months pregnant.
Her family thanked the public for an outpouring of “love, kindness and spiritual solidarity” they say has helped her heal. An online fundraising effort has already generated more than $45,000.