| KRMG Local News |
Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin kicked off their new speaking tour Saturday in Tulsa.
They delivered their message to a crowd of 4,000 people inside the Tulsa Convention Center in the "Taking Our Country Back Tour."
Palin said expanded government and growth in federal spending will hurt the country.
Beck said the democratically controlled Congress will push through reform, despite the country's massive debt.
The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office said 8-year-old Shuache Moua was the second child killed after a meningitis outbreak Thursday at the Oologah-Talala Lower Elementary School.
Her family said they're surprised by how suddenly it happened.
"It just happened so quick, from nowhere. I was shocked when my wife called me and said, 'she passed away.' Because I just seen her last Saturday or Sunday. They were playing soccer, indoors and outdoors," said Xiong Moua, Shuache's uncle.
7-year-old Andrew Thomas also died on Thursday.
His mother said her son was fine when he left on the school bus Wednesday morning.
"He was just an awesome little boy and I'm going to miss him, miss him every day," said Christie Wolf, Andrew Thomas' aunt.
Andrew's funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday at the Owasso Church of Christ.
Four other students remain hospitalized.
The family of 6-year-old Jeremiah Mitchell said they were told by doctors on Friday that the little boy has a 25% chance of survival.
If he does survive, doctors told them he will need amputations.
Jeremiah's grandmother, Carolyn Mitchell, said right now he is unrecognizable.
"The worst bruise that you can imagine. He's just totally purple. All the blood's to the surface, exploded vessels," said Mitchell.
She said Jeremiah is sedated and isn't suffering, but the family is completely distraught.
"We're just devastated. It's just horrific. There is just no end to the fear of what's coming next, because there is more to come," said Mitchell.
The Oklahoma State Health Department decided to open their phone bank Saturday for any questions regarding meningitis.
You can call from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1-866-278-7134.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Legislation that would require premarital and divorce counseling has narrowly passed the Oklahoma House.
The House voted 51-45 Wednesday night to send the bill to the state Senate for consideration. It takes at least 51 votes to pass a bill in the 101-member House.
The bill by Rep. Mark McCullough of Sapulpa would require two hours of premarital counseling before a marriage license is issued. It would also give a $45 dollar discount on a license for couples who get at least eight hours of counseling.
The measure also allows for a ``covenant marriage'' license, ends future recognition of ``common law'' marriages and requires pre-divorce education classes for couples with children.
McCullough says divorce and unwed childbearing costs the state hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma House Speaker Chris Benge (shown) says he will not publicly admonish a member suspected of moving a portrait of President Obama that hangs in the House chamber.
Benge, R-Tulsa, did not identify the member suspected of moving the portrait and said the matter would be handled internally.
Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City, expressed frustration that the portrait that hangs in the back of the chamber had been moved several times. Shelton, who is black, called it ``the most childish thing he's ever seen.''
Shelton also declined to identify which of his colleagues moved the photograph.
Benge said he believes the incident was not racially motivated but stems from the president's philosophy being ``out of line with Oklahomans.''
TULSA, Ok. - Three people are lucky to escape a one vehicle accident without serious injury early this morning. It happened about 2 a.m. Friday on Highway 169 northbound near 66th Street North. A pickup truck driven by a man with two women passengers, veered to the left and struck a guardrail of the bridge over 66th Street North. At that point the truck climbed the rail, rolled over on its top and landed in the grass median and skidded for a distance. It came to rest with the front of the truck over the edge of the rail, just short of sliding down onto 66th Street North. Troopers arrested the man who was driving the truck on suspicion of DUI.
TULSA, Ok. - Tulsa County deputies are investigating an overnight home invasion. Deputies say two women were inside a house about 11:30 p.m. Thursday near 700 West 78th Court, just south of the Jenks city limits, when four men armed with knives and guns came into the house. One of the women was injured and went to the hospital. The suspects left the scene in an older large, black sport utility vehicle. It wasn't clear right away what the loss was in the robbery. No one has been arrested.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State health officials say an adolescent female has become the latest Oklahoman to die of complications from swine flu.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported Thursday that the Delaware County girl died in late February.
Health officials say an elderly Comanche County man died of Type A influenza, but it wasn't immediately known if the virus was swine-origin influenza A, or H1N1.
The girl's death brings to 42 the number of people who have died of swine flu in since the health department began its surveillance Sept. 1. A Kay County man died before the surveillance began in June.
CHANDLER, Okla. (AP) - A natural gas pipeline has exploded near Chandler, sending wind-whipped flames into the air.
Oklahoma Natural Gas officials say there have been no reports of injuries from the blast, which happened about 3:30 p.m. Thursday along Oklahoma 66 in Lincoln County.
Oklahoma Corporation Commission spokesman Matt Skinner says there was a small grassfire, but it was quickly extinguished.
ONG spokesman Don Sherry says the explosion happened in a 26-inch diameter, high pressure natural transmission line belonging to Oneok Gas Transmission, ONG's sister company. He says crews shut off the flow of gas to the pipeline and the fire burned out.
Sherry says service has been disrupted to some residents of Warwick, a town located downstream from the pipeline.
Skinner says personnel from the agency's pipeline safety and oil and gas divisions were en route to the site.
COVINGTON, La. (AP) - A Louisiana man accused of helping his father hide the body of a Ku Klux Klan recruit from Oklahoma has pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.
A prosecutor's spokesman says 21-year-old Shane Foster was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison. Spokesman Rick Wood says prosecutors believed Foster helped his father conceal 43-year-old Cynthia Lynch (shown). Her body was found after the Tulsa, Okla., woman was shot to death in 2008.
Prosecutors think Wood also helped clean up the camp site in rural St. Tammany Parish in southeastern Louisiana.
Foster's father, Raymond Foster, has a trial April 5 on a second-degree murder charge.
Authorities say Lynch was recruited over the Internet and shot because she wanted to leave an initiation.

(Oologah, OK) - A second student at Oologah Public Schools has died of bacterial meningitis. Four other students remain hospitalized. All the cases were with student in the lower elementary school. The first death was a seven year old boy. The second death is an eight year old girl. The other two are six and eight. Classes and all activities in the district are cancelled for Friday. The cancellation affects all schools, not just the lower elementary. The Oklahoma State Department of Health is on the scene and will administer a very powerful antibiotic to any students or staff of the lower elementary in the school's gym on Friday. Bus drivers are also included. The district plans to disinfect the building as a precaution but has been told that is not necessary given the amount of time until classes resume because spring break is next week.
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