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Sunday April 20, 2025
HOUSTON (AP) — Louisiana is set this week to execute a man by nitrogen gas, the first execution in the state in 15 years.
Jessie Hoffman Jr., 46, is scheduled to die on Tuesday in Louisiana. He was convicted of the 1996 murder of a woman in New Orleans. If Louisiana carries out the execution, it would join Alabama as the only two states to use nitrogen gas to put a prisoner to death.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court lifted its ban on capital punishment in 1976, states have used five different execution methods: lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad and hanging.
Here’s a look at how the U.S. executes people:
Most U.S. executions are by lethal injection
Lethal injection has been the preferred method in the modern era, with 1,428 carried out since 1976. Texas has done the most, killing 593 inmates, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit center.
Twenty-eight states as well as the U.S. military and U.S. government authorize the use of lethal injection, in which an inmate has a deadly mixture of drugs injected into their bodies as they are strapped to a gurney.
But throughout its use, lethal injection has been plagued by problems, including delays in finding suitable veins, needles becoming clogged or disengaged and problems with securing enough of the required drugs.
“A number of states are beginning to experiment with new methods of execution … because of the problems with lethal injection,” said John Banzhaf, a professor emeritus of law at George Washington University Law School.
Use of electrocution is down since 2000
Nine states authorize the use of electrocution, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee. Since 1976, 163 electrocutions have been carried out. But only 19 have been done since 2000.
In this method, a person is strapped to a chair and has electrodes placed on their head and leg before a jolt of between 500 and 2,000 volts runs through their body. The last electrocution took place in 2020 in Tennessee.
Texas used electrocution from 1924 to 1964, killing 361 inmates, according to the state’s Department of Criminal Justice. The electric chair used by Texas was nicknamed “Old Sparky.” It is now displayed at the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, where the state’s death chamber is located.
Louisiana could join Alabama in the use of nitrogen gas
Lethal gas is authorized as the default execution method in eight states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
From 1979 to 1999, 11 inmates were executed using this method, in which a prisoner would be strapped to a chair in an airtight chamber before it was filled with cyanide gas.
In 2024, Alabama revived the method when it became the first state to use nitrogen gas to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith. A mask is placed over a prisoner’s face and nitrogen gas is pumped in, depriving the person of oxygen and resulting in death.
Alabama has executed four inmates using nitrogen gas, with the last one taking place in February.
Louisiana would be the second state to use nitrogen gas as an execution method if it carries out the death sentence against Hoffman. After a federal appeals court on Friday vacated a preliminary injunction that had stopped the execution, Hoffman’s lawyers said they planned to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Firing squads are rarely used in the modern era
Since 1977, only four inmates have been executed by firing squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
On March 7, Brad Sigmon became the first person executed by firing squad in the U.S. in 15 years when he was put to death in South Carolina. The other three executions by firing squad took place in Utah.
Five states including Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah authorize its use, but it is not the primary execution method. For this method, an inmate is usually bound to a chair and is shot through the heart by a group of prison staffers standing 20 to 25 feet (6 to 7.6 meters) away.
Idaho has had firing squad executions on the books as a backup if lethal injection drugs are unavailable since 2023. But in the wake of last year’s botched lethal injection attempt on Thomas Eugene Creech, Gov. Brad Little recently signed a bill into law that makes the firing squad the state’s primary execution method.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Doug Ricks, has suggested Idaho could use a firing squad machine, triggering the guns electronically to eliminate the need for additional execution team members.
Hanging was once the primary execution method
In the U.S., hanging was the main method of execution until about the 1890s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Data collected by researchers of U.S. executions from 1608 to 2002 found 9,322 people were put to death by hanging, in which a person was blindfolded and their hands and legs were secured before a noose was placed around the neck and they fell through a trap door.
But in capital punishment’s modern era, only three individuals in the U.S. have been executed by hanging in 1993, 1994 and 1996.
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Associated Press video journalist Cody Jackson in Fort Pierce, Florida, and writer Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.
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Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at juanlozano70.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — With Oklahomans still reeling from deadly wildfires that whipped across the state and destroyed hundreds of homes in recent days, authorities warned that Tuesday would bring a renewed risk of fire to an area spanning from western Oklahoma through the Texas Panhandle and into southeastern New Mexico.
More than 400 homes were severely damaged or destroyed in the outbreak of wildfires that started Friday in Oklahoma. At least four people died due to the fires or high winds, including a person killed in a vehicle accident as a result of poor visibility due to dust or smoke, officials said.
While calm weather over the weekend helped crews get a handle on most wildfires burning across Texas and Oklahoma, forecasters at the National Weather Service said extremely critical fire weather conditions were expected Tuesday in parts of Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
With wind gusts predicted to reach as high as 50 mph (80 kph) in the afternoon, along with dry conditions and “receptive fuels,” fires could spread rapidly, the weather service said.
“These fires, once they get started, become really hard to stop,” said Keith Merckx of Oklahoma Forestry Services. “They move more quickly than our resources can keep up with.”
He said officials will be returning their attention to western and central Oklahoma, where high winds were expected to pick back up again over the next few days. Much of the state will be back under fire warnings beginning at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Andrine Shufran and her husband spent Monday raking through the ashes of their home in a neighborhood in Stillwater that she said “looks like a checkerboard” after the recent fires.
“There’s no predictability or fairness about destroyed houses,” Shufran said. “There’s only two options for the homes in our neighborhood: standing or burned to the ground.”
Her home was one of more than 70 destroyed by wildfires in Stillwater, a city of about 50,000 about 65 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City and home to Oklahoma State University.
Shufran, a director at Insect Adventure, a petting zoo that’s part of OSU and the university’s extension campuses, said current and former students, friends and city officials have stepped in to help her and her husband.
“I’ve been more overwhelmed by how fantastic Oklahomans are when they’re friends with you, or neighbors with you, because we’ve had so many people reach out,” Shufran said.
Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce warned on Facebook on Monday afternoon of worsening fire conditions in the area.
“Be prepared to take action quickly, if necessary,” he wrote.
Southwest of Stillwater, residents in two parts of rural Logan County were urged to evacuate their homes Monday afternoon after wildfires that already burned more than 47 square miles (120 square kilometers) in the county since Friday picked back up amid high winds and dry conditions.
An evacuation shelter had been set up at the county fairgrounds in Guthrie, said Logan County Deputy Emergency Management Director Shawn Pierce.
Pierce said an estimated 54 homes were destroyed in last week’s fire in the county, which is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City.
About 10 fires continued to burn in Texas on Monday as officials geared up for more high winds Tuesday, said Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson Erin O’Connor.
Although most of the fires have been contained due to slower winds Sunday, Texas officials were expecting wildfire danger to ramp up further into the week, O’Connor said.
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AP reporter Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
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Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
(AP) — At least 41 people are dead after a weekend of dynamic storms unleashed tornadoes, blinding dust and wildfires — leaving behind uprooted trees and flattening hundreds of homes and businesses across seven states in the U.S. South and Midwest.
Weather forecasters gave an unusual “high risk” designation to the storm system, which began Friday before tapering off Sunday. For now, people in the affected communities are surveying damage as some brace for more potentially damaging weather.
“It’s not that uncommon to get impacts across that many states, but this one was even on the stronger side of what we would typically see,” Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Monday.
Here’s what to know about the unusually erratic and destructive weather system that socked central and eastern portions of the U.S.
Where and how did people die?
Missouri has reported the most deaths with at least 12 lost to tornadoes. Mississippi lost six people to tornadoes.
Two boys, ages 11 and 13, were killed when a tree fell on their home in western North Carolina on Sunday, according to a statement from Connestee Fire Rescue. Relatives said two children were trapped in their bedroom and both succumbed to their injures before firefighters could reach them, officials said.
At least three people were killed in central Alabama when tornadoes swept across the state. John Green found the body of his neighbor, Dunk Pickering, who killed by a tornado in Plantersville on Saturday night. Residents spent hours pulling people from the rubble and carrying them to paramedics who were unable to reach the area because of fallen trees blocking the roads.
Kansas reported eight deaths and Texas three, due to vehicle crashes caused by dust storms.
Oklahoma reported four people dead from high winds or fires, and Arkansas has reported three.
Multiple tornadoes in several states
There was a significant outbreak of tornadoes, with 46 on Friday and 41 on Saturday, according to a preliminary count, Chenard said. There were no reports of tornadoes on Sunday, but there were reports of wind damage, especially from West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
Two strong tornadoes tore through the same Mississippi county roughly within an hour of the other on Saturday, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service.
The twisters had preliminary ratings of EF-2 and EF-3, out of a rating scale of 0 to 5. They caused devastating damage in Walthall County, in far southern Mississippi, and the town of Tylertown, where tall trees were ripped in half and entire neighborhoods wiped out.
Six people were killed and more than 200 were displaced, Gov. Tate Reeves said.
Wayne County, Missouri, resident Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing trapped neighbors Friday found five bodies scattered in rubble outside what remained of his aunt’s house. Scattered tornadoes killed at least a dozen people in the state Friday, authorities said.
Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County, Missouri, described the home where one man was killed as “just a debris field.”
“The floor was upside down,” he said. “We were walking on walls.”
Wildfires and dust storms also proved deadly
Wind-driven wildfires caused extensive damage in Oklahoma and officials in both Oklahoma and Texas warned that parts of both states would again face an increased risk of fire danger this week.
More than 130 fires were reported across the state on Friday and over 400 homes were damaged. Oklahoma officials said Sunday evening that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had confirmed four fatalities related to fires or high winds across the state.
Dust storms spurred by high winds resulted in eight deaths Friday after at least 50 vehicles crashed on a highway, according to the state highway patrol. Authorities said three people also died in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle.
Another system coming this week
The National Weather Service said weekend tornado watches had mostly expired, but dangerous winds were still possible in the Carolinas, east Georgia and northern Florida through Sunday.
Another system is moving out of the Rockies and into the Plains in coming days, Chenard said. The threat of winter weather picks up on Tuesday into Wednesday in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, with significant snow and wind bringing hazardous conditions.
To the south, across portions of the Plains, there will be drier air, bringing fire weather risk.
“We’re almost certainly going to see fire” on Monday and Tuesday, said Keith Merckx at Oklahoma Forestry Services. “These fires, once they get started, become really hard to stop. They move more quickly than our resources can keep up with.”
Recovery efforts
President Donald Trump said the White House was monitoring the storms and would assist state and local officials to help in the recovery. He said National Guard troops were deployed to Arkansas.
TEXAS – The nation’s average price of gasoline has fallen for the fourth straight week, declining 1.3 cents compared to a week ago and stands at $3.02 per gallon, according to GasBuddy® data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The national average is down 10.6 cents from a month and is 42.4 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has decreased 5.0 cents in the last week and stands at $3.558 per gallon.
“As concerns over tariffs and policy uncertainties grow, gas prices have continued to decline across much of the country, raising the possibility that the national average could slip below $3 per gallon and approach some of the lowest prices seen in years,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “However, this decline shouldn’t necessarily be celebrated, as it comes with strong warning signs. When the economy slows, gasoline demand drops — along with demand for other refined products like diesel and jet fuel. We’ve already seen some signals that the months ahead could be challenging. All of this suggests that gas prices are likely to remain low for now. However, if economic conditions improve, gas prices could eventually follow suit and start rising again.”
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former pastor of a Texas megachurch accused of child sexual abuse surrendered to Oklahoma authorities Monday.
Robert Preston Morris, 63, turned himself in to officials in Osage County, where he was charged last week with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, told The Associated Press.
Court records show an Osage County judge set a $50,000 bond and ordered Morris to surrender his passport.
Morris is expected to make an initial appearance before a judge at 10 a.m. on May 9, Bacharach said.
Attorney Mack Martin declined to comment on the charges but said he anticipated entering a not guilty plea on Morris’ behalf.
Morris resigned last year as pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas suburb of Southlake after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her in the 1980s.
The victim, referred to in the indictment as C.C., told authorities the abuse started when she was 12 years old and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the attorney general’s office. She said the abuse continued for four years.
Cindy Clemishire, Morris’ accuser, said in a statement that she is very grateful to the authorities who have worked to make the indictment possible and is hopeful “justice will ultimately prevail.”
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” said Clemishire, now 55. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.”
The AP typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Clemishire said she would like her name included.
Morris was known to be politically active. The church hosted President Donald Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy.
Morris could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges, according to the attorney general’s office.
CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) — It’s lights out for the first private lunar lander to pull off a fully successful moon mission.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander fell silent over the weekend, wrapping up two weeks of science experiments for NASA. The end came as the sun set at the moon, no longer providing energy for the lander’s solar panels.
“Mission is completed,” Firefly CEO Jason Kim said via X late Sunday night. “But the Ghost still lives on in our hearts and minds for the journey it’s taken us on!”
The lander operated five hours into the lunar night as planned before it died Sunday evening. Photos of the lunar sunset and glow will be released on Tuesday, Kim said.
Blue Ghost launched from Cape Canaveral in January as part of NASA’s commercial lunar delivery program. It landed at the moon’s far northeastern edge on March 2. It carried a drill, vacuum and other science and tech instruments for NASA. Firefly confirmed Monday that all 10 experiments worked.
Late last week, Blue Ghost observed a total solar eclipse from the moon — a total lunar eclipse as seen from Earth.
The Texas-based Firefly became the first private company to land on the moon without falling or crashing after a string of failed missions by other companies over the past few years. Only five countries — the United States, Russia, China, India and Japan — have achieved a successful landing.
A Japanese company’s lunar lander shared the SpaceX rocket ride, but took an even longer route to get to the moon. That lander from ispace is targeting an early June touchdown.
Another Texas company, Intuitive Machines, ended up sideways in a crater near the moon’s south pole earlier this month, dooming the mission. It was the second incomplete mission for Intuitive Machines. Its first lander put the U.S. back on the moon last year for the first time since the Apollo era after a less-than-perfect landing that hampered communications.
Firefly is already working on its next lunar lander and striving for one moon landing a year.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former pastor of a Texas megachurch is expected to turn himself into Oklahoma authorities Monday on child sexual abuse charges.
Robert Preston Morris, 63, is expected to surrender to officials in Osage County, where he was charged last week with five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child, his attorney, Mack Martin, told The Associated Press.
Martin declined to comment on the charges against Morris, but said he anticipated entering a not guilty plea on Morris’ behalf.
Court records show an Osage County judge set a $50,000 bond and ordered Morris to surrender his passport to the local sheriff.
Morris resigned last year as pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas suburb of Southlake after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her in the 1980s.
The alleged abuse started in 1982 when the victim, referred to in the indictment as C.C., was 12 years old and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the attorney general’s office. The abuse allegedly continued for four years.
Cindy Clemishire, Morris’ accuser, said in a statement that she is very grateful to the authorities who have worked to make the indictment possible and is hopeful “justice will ultimately prevail.”
“After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me as a child,” said Clemishire, now 55. “Now, it is time for the legal system to hold him accountable.”
The AP typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted, but Clemishire said she would like her name included.
Morris was known to be politically active. The church hosted President Donald Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy.
Morris could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges, according to the attorney general’s office.
MANDAN, N.D. (AP) — Closing arguments are scheduled to begin on Monday in a pipeline company’s lawsuit against Greenpeace, a case the environmental advocacy group said could have consequences for free speech and protest rights and threaten the organization’s future.
The jury will deliberate after the closing arguments and jury instructions. Nine jurors and two alternates have heard the case.
North Dakota District Court Judge James Gion told the jury last month when the trial began, “You are the judges of all questions of fact in this case,” and to “base your verdict on the evidence.”
Dallas-based Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Dakota Access alleged defamation, trespass, nuisance and other offenses by Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, its American branch Greenpeace USA, and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. The pipeline company is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
The lawsuit stems from protests in 2016 and 2017 of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline and its Missouri River crossing upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. The tribe for years has opposed the pipeline as a risk to its water supply. The pipeline has transported oil since mid-2017.
Trey Cox, an attorney for the pipeline company, previously said Greenpeace “planned, organized and funded a game plan to stop construction” of the pipeline, “whatever the cost.”
Cox also alleged Greenpeace paid outsiders to come into the area to protest, sent blockade supplies, organized or led protester trainings, passed “critical intel” to the protesters and told untrue statements to stop the line from being built.
He said a letter signed by leaders of Greenpeace International and Greenpeace USA and sent to Energy Transfer’s banks contained an allegedly defamatory statement that the company desecrated burial grounds and culturally important sites during construction.
Greenpeace’s “deceptive narrative scared off lenders” and the company lost half its banks, Cox said.
Attorneys for the Greenpeace entities denied the allegations, saying there is no evidence, they had little or no involvement with the protests and the letter was signed by hundreds of organizations from dozens of countries, with no financial institution to testify the organization received, read or was influenced by the letter.
Greenpeace representatives have said the lawsuit is an example of corporations abusing the legal system to go after critics and is a critical test of free speech and protest rights. An Energy Transfer spokesperson said the case is about Greenpeace not following the law, not free speech.
A dynamic storm that prompted foreboding predictions of dangerous weekend weather spawned tornadoes, dust storms and wildfires that killed at least 39 people and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses.
The weakening but still volatile weather system was moving Monday into the U.S. Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, bringing thunderstorms, hail, damaging winds and the potential for more tornadoes.
Here’s what to know about the unusually erratic and damaging weather.
Monday forecast
Forecasters warned of dangerous winds from Florida all the way north to New Jersey, while heavy rain was likely across New York and New England.
A tornado watch was in effect until early Monday for a large swath of North Carolina and Virginia, with gusts potentially reaching 70 mph and possible hail the size of ping pong balls, according to the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg, Virginia.
The massive storm that began Friday earned an unusual “high risk” designation from meteorologists. Still, experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.
Multiple tornadoes in several states
In Tylertown, Mississippi, tornadoes ripped tall trees in half and wiped out entire neighborhoods. Six people were killed and more than 200 were displaced, Gov. Tate Reeves said.
Hailey Hart and her fiancé Steve Romero hunkered down with their three huskies inside their 1994 Toyota Celica as a twister ripped apart their home Saturday. Romero said he prayed out loud and hugged Hart as the car rolled onto its side, windows shattering, before it landed on its wheels again.
“It was a bad dream come true,” Romero said. The couple escaped with only scratches.
Wayne County, Missouri, resident Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing trapped neighbors found five bodies scattered in rubble outside what remained of his aunt’s house. Scattered twisters killed at least a dozen people in the state Friday, authorities said.
Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County, Missouri, described the home where one man was killed as “just a debris field.”
“The floor was upside down,” he said. “We were walking on walls.”
Wildfires and dust storms also proved deadly
Wind-driven wildfires caused extensive damage in Texas and Oklahoma and officials warned that parts of both states would again face an increased risk of fire danger in the coming week.
More than 130 fires were reported across Oklahoma and nearly 400 homes were damaged or destroyed, Gov. Kevin Stitt said.
“Nobody has enough resources to fight fires when the wind is blowing 70 mph,” said Terry Essary, the fire chief of Stillwater, Oklahoma. “It’s an insurmountable task.”
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Keli Cain said Sunday that two people were killed as a result of the wildfires and weather.
Meanwhile, dust storms spurred by high winds claimed almost a dozen lives on Friday. Eight people died in a Kansas highway pileup involving at least 50 vehicles, according to the state highway patrol. Authorities said three people also were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle.
Refuge and recovery efforts
President Donald Trump said the White House was monitoring the storms and would assist state and local officials to help in the recovery. He said National Guard troops were deployed to Arkansas, where officials confirmed three deaths.
“Please join Melania and me in praying for everyone impacted by these terrible storms!” Trump posted on his social media network on Sunday.
At least three people, including an 82-year-old woman, were killed in central Alabama when multiple tornadoes swept across the state.
In Troy, Alabama, parks officials said the recreation center where many residents had taken refuge had to be closed due to damage from overnight storms. No one was injured.
“We are thankful the Lord provided protection over our community, and over 200 guests at the Recreation Center storm shelter on Saturday night,” the parks department said in a statement.
DALLAS (AP) — As Oklahomans assessed the devastation from wildfires that whipped across the state, damaging or destroying hundreds of homes, officials in both Oklahoma and Texas warned Sunday of an increased risk of fire danger in the coming week.
“We’re going to be back into a critical area,” Oklahoma Forestry Services spokesperson Keith Merckx said Sunday.
Nearly 300 homes and structures were damaged or destroyed as more than 130 wildfires were reported across the state on Friday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a Saturday news conference. Officials said Sunday that at least two people had died because of the severe weather in Oklahoma.
Jeremy Cook was among the residents in Stillwater, a city of about 50,000 located about 65 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City, who returned home Saturday morning to find that his house was gone. Cook told The Oklahoman that when his family fled Friday, they loaded up three cars with photographs, pets, books and paintings.
After returning to find his home burned to the foundation, he said he was going back and forth “between laughing and crying.”
A preliminary count found that least 50 homes and structures were destroyed or damaged in Stillwater as multiple fires broke out, fire Chief Terry Essary said at a news conference Saturday. The fires spread rapidly and crews had difficulty containing each one because of the high winds and low humidity. He said they quickly became overwhelmed.
“Nobody has enough resources to fight fires when the wind is blowing 70 mph,” Essary said. “It’s an insurmountable task.”
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Keli Cain said Sunday that two people have been killed as a result of the weather and wildfires. She said one person died in Garfield County in a vehicle accident due to poor visibility due to dust or smoke and that a man had also died in Lincoln County.
Deborah Ferguson told News 9 that her husband, Allen Ferguson, was killed in Lincoln County. She said that her husband and her 15-year-old son had been fighting a wildfire in a pasture on Friday and as they fled on a four-wheeler, it crashed into a tree amid heavy smoke. She said her son was badly burned and is hospitalized.
Erin O’Connor, a spokesperson with the Texas A&M Forest Service, said the region on Friday had the “perfect recipe for wildfires” with high winds, dry conditions and above normal temperatures. She said that less wind on Sunday had helped crews get a handle on the fires but that more fire activity was expected this coming week.
One of the largest fires in Texas currently had burned about 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) near Fredericksburg, west of Austin, but was 40% contained by Sunday, she said.
The winds that swept across Texas and Oklahoma were so strong that they turned over several tractor-trailers. Authorities have said three people were killed in car crashes during a dust storm caused by high winds in the Texas Panhandle on Friday.
After touring the damage in Stillwater and Mannford, a city of about 3,000 located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Tulsa, on Saturday, Stitt went on to survey the damage at his ranch outside of Oklahoma City, where his home there had burned to the ground.
“We’ll be rebuilding with the rest of Oklahoma,” Stitt said in a video posted on X. “You never think it’s going to happen to your place and these wildfires just come out of nowhere and can really take over.
TYLERTOWN, Miss. (AP) — Unusually vicious and damaging weather across multiple U.S. states spawned violent tornadoes, blinding dust storms and fast-moving wildfires this weekend, leaving at least 37 people dead.
Hailey Hart and her fiancé Steve Romero hunkered down with their three huskies inside their 1994 Toyota Celica as a tornado ripped apart their home Saturday in Tylertown, Mississippi.
Romero said he prayed out loud and hugged Hart as the car rolled onto its side, windows shattering, before it landed on its wheels again. After the twister passed, they could hear people nearby screaming for help.
“It was a bad dream come true,” Romero said.
Next door, Hart’s grandparents crawled out from the rubble of their destroyed house after they sought shelter in a bathroom as falling trees collapsed the roof.
“Everything was coming down on us,” said Donna Blansett, Hart’s grandmother. “All I could do was pray to God to save us.”
They escaped with just a few scratches and aches. Family members, friends and volunteers spent Sunday removing debris and salvaging anything they could find — some damp clothes, a photo album and a few toiletries.
“I’m so happy you’re alive,” Hart said through tears, as she embraced her grandmother on Sunday.
The National Weather Service said tornado watches had mostly expired, but dangerous winds were still possible in the Carolinas, east Georgia and northern Florida through Sunday evening.
Forecasters warned of dangerous conditions that turned deadly
The dynamic storm that began Friday earned an unusual “high risk” designation from weather forecasters. Still, experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.
President Donald Trump said in a post on his social media network that his administration is ready to assist affected communities.
“Please join Melania and me in praying for everyone impacted by these terrible storms!” he posted Sunday.
At least three people, including an 82-year-old woman, were killed in central Alabama when multiple tornados swept across the state.
In Troy, Alabama, parks officials said the recreation center where many residents had taken refuge had to be closed due to damage from overnight storms. No one was injured.
“We are thankful the Lord provided protection over our community, and over 200 guests at the Recreation Center storm shelter on Saturday night,” the parks department said in a statement.
Fatalities from twisters in battered Missouri reach 12
Missouri resident Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing trapped neighbors found five bodies scattered in rubble Friday night outside what remained of his aunt’s house in hard-hit Wayne County. Scattered twisters killed at least a dozen people in the state, authorities said.
“It’s really disturbing for what happened to the people, the casualties last night,” Henderson said Saturday, not far from the splintered home he said they rescued his aunt through a window of the only room left standing.
Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County, Missouri, described the home where one man was killed as “just a debris field.”
“The floor was upside down,” he said. “We were walking on walls.”
Six deaths in Mississippi; three die in Arkansas
In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced that six people died and more than 200 were displaced after tornadoes sowed devastation across three counties. And in the northern part of the state, roads were inundated and some people were stranded by flood waters.
One of the deaths occurred in Covington County, where Seminary resident Traci Ladner said she watched a tornado knock down trees and power lines and destroy a house Saturday as she drove home from Ward’s Restaurant.
The twister touched down briefly, traveled over Highway 49 and then went back up before making another quick descent, she said.
“I was crying. My legs were shaking. It was pretty scary,” she said.
In Arkansas, officials confirmed three deaths.
Wildfires and dust storms drive up the death toll
Wind-driven wildfires caused extensive damage in Texas and Oklahoma and officials warned Sunday that parts of both states would again face an increased risk of fire danger in the coming week.
More than 130 fires were reported across Oklahoma and nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed, Gov. Kevin Stitt said.
“Nobody has enough resources to fight fires when the wind is blowing 70 mph,” said Terry Essary, the fire chief of Stillwater, Oklahoma. “It’s an insurmountable task.”
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Keli Cain said Sunday that two people were killed as a result of the wildfires and weather.
Meanwhile, dust storms spurred by high winds claimed almost a dozen lives on Friday. Eight people died in a Kansas highway pileup involving at least 50 vehicles, according to the state highway patrol. Authorities said three people also were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle.
PIEDMONT, Mo. (AP) — Violent tornadoes and high winds decimated homes, wiped out schools and toppled semitractor-trailers as a monster storm that killed at least 32 people ripped its way across the central and southern U.S.
Missouri resident Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing trapped neighbors found five bodies scattered in the debris Friday night outside what remained of his aunt’s house in hard-hit Wayne County. Scattered twisters killed at least a dozen people in the state, authorities said.
“It was a very rough deal last night,” Henderson said Saturday not far from the splintered home from which he said they rescued his aunt through a window of the only room left standing. “It’s really disturbing for what happened to the people, the casualties last night.”
Coroner Jim Akers of nearby Butler County described the “unrecognizable home” where one man was killed as “just a debris field.”
“The floor was upside down,” he said. “We were walking on walls.”
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced six people died in three counties and three more people were missing late Saturday as storms moved further east into Alabama, where damaged homes and impassable roads were reported. Officials confirmed three deaths in Arkansas, where Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also declared an emergency in anticipation of the storm’s shift eastward. Early Sunday morning, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency used its social media accounts to repost a National Weather Service tornado watch for parts of southeast Georgia.
In response to the watch, which warns of isolated tornadoes and hail and gusts of 50 to 70 mph (80 to 112 kph), Kemp posted a note saying his family was “praying for all those impacted by this storm system and those still in its path.”
“We will continue to work closely with state and local officials to respond to damage and assess any needs following this weather event,” Kemp wrote.
Dust storms spurred by the system’s early high winds claimed almost a dozen lives on Friday. Eight people died in a Kansas highway pileup involving at least 50 vehicles, according to the state highway patrol. Authorities said three people also were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle.
Extreme weather encompasses a zone of 100 million people
The extreme weather conditions were forecast to impact an area that is home to more than 100 million people, with winds threatening blizzard conditions in colder northern areas and fanning the wildfire risk in warmer, drier places to the south.
Evacuations were ordered in some Oklahoma communities as more than 130 fires were reported across the state and nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed. Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a Saturday news conference that some 266 square miles (689 square kilometers) had burned, sharing that he lost a home of his own on a ranch northeast of Oklahoma City.
To the north, the National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of far western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota starting early Saturday. Snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15.2 centimeters) were expected, with up to a foot (30 centimeters) possible. Winds were expected to cause whiteout conditions.
Still, experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.
Tornadoes have been widespread
Significant tornadoes continued late Saturday, with the region at highest risk stretching from eastern Louisiana and Mississippi through Alabama, western Georgia and the Florida panhandle, the Storm Prediction Center said.
Bailey Dillon, 24, and her fiance, Caleb Barnes, watched from their front porch in Tylertown, Mississippi, as a massive twister struck an area about half a mile (0.8 kilometer) away near Paradise Ranch RV Park.
They drove over afterward to see if anyone needed help and recorded video of snapped trees, leveled buildings and overturned vehicles.
“The amount of damage was catastrophic,” Dillon said. “It was a large amount of cabins, RVs, campers that were just flipped over. Everything was destroyed.”
Paradise Ranch said via Facebook that all staff and guests were safe and accounted for, but Dillon said the damage extended beyond the RV park itself.
“Homes and everything were destroyed all around it,” she said. “Schools and buildings are just completely gone.”
Some images from the extreme weather went viral online.
Tad Peters and his father, Richard Peters, had pulled over to fuel up their pickup truck in Rolla, Missouri, on Friday night when they heard tornado sirens and saw other motorists fleeing the interstate to park.
“Whoa, is this coming? Oh, it’s here. It’s here,” Tad Peters can be heard saying on a video. “Look at all that debris. Ohhh. My God, we are in a torn …”
His father then rolled up the window.
The two were headed to Indiana for a weightlifting competition but decided to return home to Norman, Oklahoma, about six hours away, where they then encountered wildfire.
(AP) — Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the U.S., wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states, part of a monster storm that has killed at least 26 people as more severe weather was expected late Saturday.
The number of fatalities increased after the Kansas Highway Patrol reported eight people died in a highway pileup caused by a dust storm in Sherman County Friday. At least 50 vehicles were involved.
Missouri recorded more fatalities than any other state as it withstood scattered twisters overnight that killed at least 12 people, authorities said. The deaths included a man who was killed after a tornado ripped apart his home.
“It was unrecognizable as a home. Just a debris field,” said Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County, describing the scene that confronted rescuers. “The floor was upside down. We were walking on walls.”
Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing people trapped in their homes Friday night found five dead bodies scattered in the debris outside what remained of his aunt’s house in hard-hit Wayne County, Missouri.
“It was a very rough deal last night,” he said Saturday, surrounded by uprooted trees and splintered homes. “It’s really disturbing for what happened to the people, the casualties last night.”
Henderson said they rescued his aunt from a bedroom that was the only room left standing in her house, taking her out through a window. They also carried out a man who had a broken arm and leg.
Officials in Arkansas said three people died in Independence County and 29 others were injured across eight counties as storms passed through the state.
“We have teams out surveying the damage from last night’s tornadoes and have first responders on the ground to assist,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on X.
She and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared states of emergency. Kemp said he was making the declaration in anticipation of severe weather moving in later Saturday.
On Friday, meanwhile, authorities said three people were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle.
Extreme weather encompasses a zone of 100 million people
The deaths came as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that triggered deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.
Extreme weather conditions were forecast to affect an area home to more than 100 million people. Winds gusting up to 80 mph (130 kph) were predicted from the Canadian border to Texas, threatening blizzard conditions in colder northern areas and wildfire risk in warmer, drier places to the south.
The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of far western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota starting early Saturday. Snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15.2 centimeters) were expected, with up to a foot (30 centimeters) possible.
Winds gusting to 60 mph (97 kph) were expected to cause whiteout conditions.
Evacuations were ordered in some Oklahoma communities as more than 130 fires were reported across the state. Nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed. Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a Saturday news conference that some 266 square miles (689 square kilometers) had burned in his state.
The State Patrol said winds were so strong that they toppled several tractor-trailers.
Experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.
Tornadoes hit amid storm outbreak
The Storm Prediction Center said fast-moving storms could spawn twisters and hail as large as baseballs on Saturday, but the greatest threat would come from winds near or exceeding hurricane force, with gusts of 100 mph (160 kph) possible.
Significant tornadoes continued to hit Saturday. The regions at highest risk stretch from eastern Louisiana and Mississippi through Alabama, western Georgia and the Florida panhandle, the center said.
Bailey Dillon, 24, and her fiance, Caleb Barnes, watched a massive tornado from their front porch in Tylertown, Mississippi, about half a mile (0.8 km) away as it struck an area near Paradise Ranch RV Park.
They drove over afterward to see if anyone needed help and recorded a video depicting snapped trees, leveled buildings and overturned vehicles.
“The amount of damage was catastrophic,” Dillon said. “It was a large amount of cabins, RVs, campers that were just flipped over — everything was destroyed.”
Paradise Ranch reported on Facebook that all its staff and guests were safe and accounted for, but Dillon said the damage extended beyond the ranch itself.
“Homes and everything were destroyed all around it,” she said. “Schools and buildings are just completely gone.”
Some of the imagery from the extreme weather has gone viral.
Tad Peters and his dad, Richard Peters, had pulled over to fuel up their pickup truck in Rolla, Missouri, Friday night when they heard tornado sirens and saw other motorists flee the interstate to park.
“Whoa, is this coming? Oh, it’s here. It’s here,” Tad Peters can be heard saying on a video. “Look at all that debris. Ohhh. My God, we are in a torn …”
His father then rolled up the truck window. The two were headed to Indiana for a weightlifting competition but decided to turn around and head back home to Norman, Oklahoma, about six hours away, where they encountered wildfires.
Wildfires elsewhere in the Southern Plains threatened to spread rapidly amid warm, dry weather and strong winds in Texas, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico.
A blaze in Roberts County, Texas, northeast of Amarillo, quickly blew up from less than a square mile (about 2 square kilometers) to an estimated 32.8 square miles (85 square kilometers), the Texas A&M University Forest Service said on X. Crews stopped its advance by Friday evening.
About 60 miles (90 kilometers) to the south, another fire grew to about 3.9 square miles (10 square kilometers) before its advance was halted in the afternoon.
High winds also knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, according the website poweroutage.us.
AUSTIN (AP) — A Texas lawmaker who helped pioneer the state’s restrictive abortion laws introduced a bill on Friday to clarify medical exceptions allowed under the law, representing a pivot from Republican legislators who have defended the state’s abortion ban in the face of lawsuits and medical scrutiny.
The bill, introduced by Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes, still requires that patients have a medical emergency for a physician to perform an abortion but strikes language that it be a life-threatening condition. The bill would also require doctors and lawyers to receive training about the law.
“We’ve learned in a number of cases where the physician was willing to treat the mom, but the lawyers for the hospital would advise against it,” Hughes said. “So one of the most important things we want to do is make sure that doctors and the hospital lawyers are trained on what the law is.”
Hughes’ proposed legislation follows similar efforts by Kentucky lawmakers who added medical exceptions to their state’s near-total abortion ban on Thursday.
Texas law currently prohibits abortions except when a pregnant patient has a life-threatening condition. Doctors who are convicted of providing an illegal abortion can face up to 99 years in prison, a $100,000 fine and lose their medical license.
Texas’ abortion laws are among the strictest in the nation and have survived multiple legal challenges since the overturning of Roe v. Wade from opponents who say the law is unclear about when medical exceptions are allowed.
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the president of the Senate, has made the bill one of his legislative priorities, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said he’s open to supporting the legislation.
“Since the Dobbs decision, there have been 135 medically necessary abortions to save mothers’ lives in Texas with no repercussions for those physicians,” Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said in a statement. “Governor Abbott looks forward to seeing any clarifying language in any proposed legislation from the legislature.”
For years, abortion rights advocates have criticized Texas’ abortion laws, which do not allow exceptions for cases of incest or rape, as too restrictive.
“No amount of attempted clarification from Texas lawmakers would suffice because abortion bans are dangerous,” said Ashley Gray, senior policy adviser for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “As long as you’re criminalizing doctors for providing care, patients will suffer.”
In 2024, the Texas Supreme Court said the state’s abortion laws were not too vague, ruling against a group of women who had serious pregnancy complications and were denied abortions. The Texas Medical Board has refused to list specific exceptions for doctors under the law.
Dallas mother Kate Cox was at the center of a separate lawsuit brought in 2023 for a similar issue after a court denied her permission to obtain an abortion after her fetus developed a fatal condition.
A group of more than 100 obstetricians and gynecologists across the state sent a letter in November to state officials urging them to reform the law after an investigation by ProPublica found three women had died after doctors had delayed treating their miscarriages.
AUSTIN (AP) – A man was charged Friday with intoxication manslaughter after five people were killed and several injured in a late-night wreck in Austin, Texas, that involved over a dozen vehicles on Interstate 35, authorities said.
Authorities said that the five people killed in the crash that involved 17 vehicles Thursday just before 11:30 p.m. included three adults, a child and an infant. First responders said that 11 people were taken to hospitals.
Solomun Weldekeal Araya, 37, was charged with five counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault after the crash, Austin police said Friday. Police said he was in custody in Travis County Jail. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.
Police have not detailed the circumstances that led to the wreck. Police said in an email Friday that they were still early in the investigation and had no further information available to release.
The southbound lanes of I-35 were closed following the crash, and they remained closed into Friday before reopening at about 1 p.m. The wreck left a stretch of the interstate littered with mangled vehicles and debris.
The collision was “very large and very complex,” police Officer Austin Zarling said at an early morning news conference.
Edgar Viera told the KXAN television station that he was at a nearby store when he heard the crash and went to try to help those involved.
“We didn’t have the proper tools to open the vehicles, so we just did what we could,” Viera told the station. “It was hard to see this.”