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Articles by Sean Murphy
Major historical documents start journey across US as part of nation’s 250th anniversary celebration
Some of the United States’ most important historical documents are beginning a first-of-its kind journey Monday as part of the country’s 250th anniversary commemoration. Typically housed in highly controlled vaults under the watch of preservation experts at the National Archives, documents such as the 1783 Treaty of Paris that formally ended the Revolutionary War and the 1774 Articles of Association that urged colonists to boycott British goods are rarely moved.
Oklahoma set to execute man convicted of double killing in 2006 drive-by shooting
McALESTER, Oklahoma (AP) — A man who apologized for killing two men in a drive-by shooting after a nightclub altercation was set to be put to death Thursday in the first execution of the year in Oklahoma and the second in the United States.
Crews spread salt on roads and people stock up on batteries as a winter storm threatens the US
ATLANTA (AP) — Bags of ice-thwarting salt aren’t usually a hot item at Bates Ace Hardware in Atlanta, but store manager Lewis Pane sold all 275 he had in stock in one morning as residents braced for a major storm to deliver heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain on a broad section of the U.S. in coming days. Payne said he had 30 online orders for “ice melt” before 8 a.m. People sprinkle the salts on the ground before a storm to disrupt the formation of ice.
First Native woman drives Oklahoma’s iconic Sooner Schooner
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — For the first time in its 60-year history, the Sooner Schooner, the University of Oklahoma’s iconic covered wagon mascot, is being driven by a Native American woman. Brianna Howard, a junior at OU and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, first drove the Schooner onto the field during the football team’s season opener against Illinois State. “I only had a minute to get on the Schooner, get the reins and go,” Howard said Saturday before the Sooners’ game against Missouri in Norman.
Divided Oklahoma board recommends clemency for man scheduled for lethal injection
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 on Wednesday to recommend the governor spare the life of a man scheduled to be executed next week for the 2001 stabbing death of a man during a botched robbery. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt must now consider whether to commute the death sentence of Tremane Wood, 46, to life in prison. Stitt has granted clemency only once during his nearly seven years in office, to death row inmate Julius Jones in 2021.
Cards Against Humanity and Elon Musk’s SpaceX reach settlement over alleged trespassing in Texas
SpaceX has settled a lawsuit filed by the maker of the popular party game Cards Against Humanity over accusations that Elon Musk’s rocket company trespassed and damaged a plot of land the card company owns in Texas. Texas court records show a settlement was reached in the case last month, just weeks before a jury trial was scheduled to begin on Nov. 3.
Texas Democrat Gina Hinojosa enters race for governor
Texas Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa entered the race for governor Wednesday, criticizing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott as beholden to big donors in an uphill bid to become the first Democrat to hold the office since 1995. Hinojosa, who represents Austin, joins a race that has been without big-name challengers and overshadowed in Texas by a competitive U.S. Senate contest.
What to know about the capture of the last of 10 escapees from a New Orleans jail
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — All 10 fugitives who made a brazen escape from a New Orleans jail in May are back in custody after the last inmate who was still on the run was captured hiding in the basement crawl space of an Atlanta home. Derrick Groves, 28, was found Wednesday holed up beneath the home by a police dog sent inside after an Atlanta Police Department SWAT team spent hours searching the home and deploying tear gas into it.
Oklahoma court halts social studies changes
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court temporarily put on hold proposed new social studies standards for K-12 public school students that include conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. The state’s high court issued a temporary stay this week while a lawsuit filed by a group of parents and educators challenging the new standards is being litigated.
Families of flood victims to join Texas governor for camp safety bill signing
In the days and weeks following the death of his 9-year-old daughter, Lila, at Camp Mystic in the Texas Hill Country, Blake Bonner found himself wondering whether the tragedy was simply an unstoppable act of God or something could have been done to prevent it. Lila was one of 27 Camp Mystic campers and counselors swept to their deaths when fast-rising floodwaters of the Guadalupe River roared through the girls’ summer camp.
Former NFL player convicted in large-scale dogfighting operation in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former NFL player from Oklahoma has been convicted for his role in a large-scale dogfighting operation, federal prosecutors announced. Leshon Eugene Johnson, 54, of Broken Arrow was convicted of six felony counts of possessing dogs for use in an animal-fighting venture. He was acquitted of 17 other similar counts. He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count when he’s formally sentenced at a later date.
A decade of missed opportunities: Texas couldn’t find $1M for flood warning system near camps
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Over the last decade, an array of local and state agencies missed opportunities to fund a flood warning system intended to avert the type of disaster that swept away dozens of campers and others in Kerr County, Texas over the Fourth of July weekend.
Texas officials face scrutiny over response to catastrophic and deadly flooding
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Before heading to bed before the Fourth of July holiday, Christopher Flowers checked the weather while staying at a friend’s house along the Guadalupe River. Nothing in the forecast alarmed him. Hours later, he was rushing to safety: He woke up in darkness to electrical sockets popping and ankle-deep water. Quickly, his family scrambled nine people into the attic. Phones buzzed with alerts, Flowers recalled Saturday, but he did not remember when in the chaos they started.
Oklahoma court clears the way for execution of a man convicted in a Tulsa woman’s killing
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 11:40 AM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 11, 2025 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma appeals court on Wednesday ordered a stay of execution to be lifted for a man on death row, clearing the way for him to receive a lethal injection for killing a Tulsa woman in 1999. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
Former President Bill Clinton returns to Oklahoma City 30 years after the bombing
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 11:10 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 18, 2025 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Thirty years after the deadliest homegrown attack in U.S. history, former President Bill Clinton will return to Oklahoma City on Saturday to remember the people who were killed and comfort those affected by the bombing. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
AP Was There: A truck bomb rips through a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995
Print Email Read Later OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — EDITORS NOTE: On April 19, 1995, a former U.S. Army soldier parked a rented Ryder truck loaded with a powerful bomb made of fertilizer and fuel oil outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City. The blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured more than 500 others in what remains the deadliest homegrown attack on American soil.
Residue from human waste has long wound up as farm fertilizer. Some neighbors hate it
WELLSTON, Okla. (AP) — When Leslie Stewart moved to her home in a rural expanse of Lincoln County outside of Oklahoma City more than 20 years ago, she thought she’d found a slice of heaven. In a town of fewer than 700 people, her son could attend a good school and her acreage offered plenty of room to raise goats and let her dogs run.
Oklahoma board denies clemency for man on death row, clears path for March execution
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 12:58 PM CST Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma board rejected clemency on Wednesday for a man sentenced to die for fatally shooting a woman during a 2005 home-invasion robbery, clearing the way for him to become the first person executed in the state this year. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
Oklahoma wants federal inmate transferred so he can be put to death
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 12:27 PM CST Friday, Jan. 24, 2025 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's top prosecutor asked the federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer an inmate to state custody so that he could be executed for his role in the kidnapping and killing of a 77-year-old woman in 1999. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
Oklahoma’s Republican AG jumps early into race for open governor’s seat
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 1:31 PM CST Monday, Jan. 13, 2025 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has at times pushed back against his own party's governor and other politicians who sought to push religion into public schools, announced Monday his candidacy for governor. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
Federal probe of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre says ‘no avenue’ for criminal case in connection to attack
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 4:32 PM CST Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The first-ever U.S. Justice Department review of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre concluded Friday that while federal prosecution may have been possible a century ago there is no longer an avenue to bring a criminal case more than 100 years after one of the worst racial attacks in U.S. history.
Oklahoma prepares to perform the nation’s 25th and final execution of 2024
Print Email Read Later OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma is preparing to execute a man who killed a 10-year-old girl in what would be the nation's 25th and final execution of the year. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
Oklahoma parents and teachers sue to stop top education official’s classroom Bible mandate
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 3:44 PM CDT Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024 Print Email Read Later OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A group of Oklahoma parents of public school students, teachers and ministers filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop the state's top education official from forcing schools to incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12.
Oklahoma death row inmate had three ‘last meals.’ He’s back at Supreme Court in new bid for freedom
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma has set execution dates nine times for death row inmate Richard Glossip. The state has fed him three “last meals.” Glossip has even been married twice while awaiting execution. Somehow, he’s still here, even after the Supreme Court rejected his challenge to Oklahoma’s lethal injection process nine years ago.
Justice Department will launch civil rights review into 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 5:24 PM CDT Monday, Sep. 30, 2024 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Justice Department announced Monday it plans to launch a review of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, an attack by a white mob on a thriving Black district that is considered one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.
Oklahoma prepares for an execution after parole board recommended sparing man’s life
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 12:09 AM CDT Thursday, Sep. 26, 2024 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma was preparing to execute a man Thursday while waiting for Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt to decide whether to spare the death row inmate's life and accept a rare clemency recommendation from the state's parole board. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
There are 5 executions set over a week’s span in the US. That’s the most in decades
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 12:05 AM CDT Tuesday, Sep. 24, 2024 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Death row inmates in five states are scheduled to be put to death in the span of one week, an unusually high number of executions that defies a yearslong trend of decline in both the use and support of the death penalty in the U.S. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
Police officers are starting to use AI chatbots to write crime reports. Will they hold up in court?
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A body camera captured every word and bark uttered as police Sgt. Matt Gilmore and his K-9 dog, Gunner, searched for a group of suspects for nearly an hour. Normally, the Oklahoma City police sergeant would grab his laptop and spend another 30 to 45 minutes writing up a report about the search. But this time he had artificial intelligence write the first draft.
Oklahoma parole board recommends governor spare the life of man on death row
By: Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 2:29 PM CDT Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 on Wednesday to recommend the governor spare the life of a man on death row for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
‘Twisters’ tears through Oklahoma on the big screen. Moviegoers in the state are buying up tickets
MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Grace Evans lived through one of the most powerful and deadly twisters in Oklahoma history: a roaring top-of-the-scale terror in 2013 that plowed through homes, tore through a school and killed 24 people in the small suburb of Moore. A hospital and bowling alley were also destroyed.
Storms battering the Midwest bring tornadoes, hail and strong winds
DETROIT (AP) — Severe storms barreled through the Midwest, unleashing a curtain of heavy rain, gusty winds and tornadoes throughout the region that forecasters warned could stretch into Wednesday morning. Tornadoes were spotted after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service.
How Kansas women’s disappearance on a drive to pick up kids led to 4 arrests in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A two-week search for two missing Kansas women came to a fatal end last weekend when Oklahoma authorities confirmed the two were dead and announced the arrests of four people who allegedly belonged to an anti-government group that called themselves “God’s Misfits.” Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, of Hugoton, Kansas, disappeared on March 30 while driving to pick up Butler’s two children for a birthday party.
An Oklahoma council member with ties to white nationalists faces scrutiny, and a recall election
ENID, Okla. (AP) — The typical topics for discussion among city leaders in the northwest Oklahoma community of Enid are how to lure a new movie theater, the cost of operating a downtown arena and plans for a solar farm on the edge of town. But the issue looming large over this community of just over 50,000 residents in the heart of the state’s wheat plains is whether to remove a city councilor with ties to white supremacist groups.
Law enforcement in Texas wonders how they will enforce migrant arrest law
SANDERSON, Texas (AP) — During the nine hours that Texas was allowed to arrest and deport people who illegally enter the U.S., Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland never changed his tactics with migrants in his remote border county. Not because he opposes the idea. There’s just no practical way to do it, said the sheriff of Terrell County, where last year an average of about 10 people each day were caught crossing the border from Mexico.
A nonbinary student’s death after a high school fight has been ruled a suicide. Here’s what to know
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Police in Oklahoma say they still haven’t finished their investigation into the death of a 16-year-old nonbinary student the day after a high school fight, which has been ruled a suicide by the state medical examiner’s office. A summary autopsy report was released on Wednesday, more than a month after Nex Benedict’s Feb. 8 death, but a complete report isn’t expected to be released for about 10 days.
Democrats are targeting US Senate race in Texas as voters pick who will take on GOP’s Ted Cruz
By: Paul J. Weber And Sean Murphy, The Associated Press Posted: 12:36 AM CST Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2024 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democrats in search of flipping a U.S. Senate seat were watching Texas closely on Super Tuesday to see who voters nominate against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, whose underdog challengers have cast as vulnerable after a narrow margin of victory in 2018.
Firefighters seek to corral massive Texas wildfires before weekend of higher temperatures and winds
CANADIAN, Texas (AP) — The explosive growth of the second-largest wildfire in Texas history slowed as winds and temperatures dipped but the massive blaze was still untamed and threatening more death and destruction. The Smokehouse Fire is the largest of several major fires burning in the rural Panhandle section of the state. It has charred 1,300 square miles (3,370 square kilometers) and crossed into Oklahoma.
Tulsa Public Faculties Removes Graphic Books From Library | gadgetfee
By SEAN MURPHY, Related Press Author OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Officers at Tulsa Public Faculties stated Thursday they eliminated two sexually graphic books from faculty libraries following criticism from a number of elected leaders amid a renewed conservative curiosity in public training as a political situation.
TIMELINE: Texas Elementary Faculty Taking pictures, Minute by Minute | U.S. Information® | gadgetfee
By JAMIE STENGLE, JAKE BLEIBERG and SEAN MURPHY On Could 24, a gunman fatally shot 19 youngsters and two lecturers in two adjoining lecture rooms at Robb Elementary Faculty in Uvalde, Texas. Over an hour handed from the time officers adopted the 18-year-old gunman into the varsity and once they lastly entered the fourth-grade classroom the place he was holed up and killed him.
Haaland Tour Casts Mild on Native Boarding College Abuses | Oklahoma Information | gadgetfee
By SEAN MURPHY, Related Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — U.S. Secretary of the Inside Deb Haaland will go to Oklahoma on Saturday for the primary cease on a yearlong nationwide tour to listen to concerning the painful experiences of Native People who had been despatched to government-backed boarding faculties designed to strip them of their cultural identities.
Stitt wins GOP nomination in Oklahoma governor’s race
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Gov. Kevin Stitt easily won the GOP primary on Tuesday in his race for reelection as Oklahoma governor, taking advantage of a massive fundraising edge to dispatch three fellow Republicans.
TULSA, Okla. - A gunman carrying a rifle and a handgun killed four people Wednesday at a Tulsa medical building on a hospital campus, police said, the latest in a series of deadly mass shootings across the country in recent weeks. Tulsa Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish confirmed the number of dead and said the shooter also was dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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