In the Nation

OKLAHOMA

Picking up pieces after tornado hit

Oklahomans salvaged soggy belongings Thursday after the Plains' first tornado outbreak of 2015, expressing gratitude that casualties were low but understanding that nature's next punch could be far worse.

One person died and dozens were injured when tornadoes hit parts of the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas Wednesday evening. The mayor in Moore, an Oklahoma City suburb devastated by a massive tornado two years ago, called the storm that hit his city a "junior tornado." But residents of a hard-hit Sand Springs, just west of Tulsa, said the storm was agonizing.

"Tornadoes mean a loss for a lot of people and their property," Lisa Reagle said as she rummaged through her father's demolished mobile home looking for photographs.

Wednesday's storms broke a months-long tornado drought in Oklahoma. Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 25 counties. - AP
NEW JERSEY

Officer had DUIs

An off-duty New Jersey police officer behind the wheel of a car that crashed last week while heading the wrong way on a New York highway, killing two people, has had two drunken-driving arrests in the last four years, including one for an accident in which he plowed through the wall of a convenience store, records show. Six-year Linden police veteran Pedro Abad Jr.'s driver's license was suspended after the second arrest, beginning in October 2013 and concluding in May 2014, the Motor Vehicle Commission said. - AP
WASHINGTON STATE

Getting their goats

Seattle police corralled a group of 10 goats that had managed to get loose from a yard in the city's Beacon Hill neighborhood. On their website, police say officers responded Thursday to a report that the goats were chasing children. After a brief chase of their own, police managed to herd the goats back into a pen. Animal control officers were called to contact the goats' owner. - AP