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    Scenes From States Devastated by a Powerful Storm System

    A massive storm system has pummeled the Midwest and South this week, killing at least seven people and leaving a trail of destruction from Arkansas to Ohio. The risk may only increase in the days ahead as sustained rainfall is expected to cause widespread and potentially catastrophic floods.The storm began to menace the region on Wednesday, when tornadoes and strong winds toppled barns, houses and power poles. Several people died in Tennessee, including a teenage girl whose modular home was destroyed by a tornado. Officials also linked a fire chief’s death in Missouri and a motorist’s death in Indiana to the storm.In many communities, the focus shifted immediately to the threat of flooding. Water already covered roads in Nashville, and schools in some drenched Kentucky and Tennessee communities called off Friday classes. With many waterways expected to crest at major flood stage over the weekend, residents of river towns in Arkansas, Missouri and beyond were racing to fill up sandbags.Here is a look at some of the damage:ArkansasBrad J. Vest for The New York TimesCody Ferguson took pictures of damage to his home in Lake City.Brad J. Vest for The New York TimesJessica Rust showed off a photo of a tornado that she took on Wednesday as she and her family cleared debris from her father’s destroyed mobile home in Lake City.Associated PressPeople surveyed destroyed homes in Lake City.Brad J. Vest for The New York TimesDylon Davies embraced Skylar, his friend’s dog that survived the tornado in Lake City.TennesseeWilliam DeShazer for The New York TimesRescue operations were underway as floodwaters grew in Nashville.@racheljanemarie via XFloodwaters overflowed into streets in Nashville.William DeShazer for The New York TimesUtility workers began restoring power in Selmer.William DeShazer for The New York TimesBuildings were shredded in Selmer.Tennessee Highway Patrol via StoryfulCrews searched through wreckage after a tornado hit Selmer.William DeShazer for The New York TimesFlooding in Nashville.William DeShazer for The New York TimesResidents in Selmer patched a roof as rain continued to pour.Anthony Kyle Borden via FacebookLightening as tornado warnings were issued in Statonville.KentuckyMichael Swensen/Getty ImagesParishioners and community members assessed damage after a tornado struck the Christ Community Church in West Paducah.Leandro Lozada/Agence France-Presse, via Afp /Afp Via Getty ImagesA tornado ripped through buildings in Louisville.Indiana@DKahunaB via StoryfulTornados toppled trees and damaged homes in Carmel.MissouriDavid Robert Elliott for The New York TimesResidents explored the wreckage in Nevada.David Robert Elliott for The New York TimesBusinesses in Nevada were destroyed by the storm.OklahomaMike Simons/Tulsa World, via Associated PressRyland Mosley, 18, who was on the second story of his home when the storm passed, stood outside and observed the aftermath in Owasso.Mike Simons/Tulsa World, via Associated PressDamage in Owasso. More

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    LeShon Johnson, Ex-N.F.L. Running Back, Ran Major Dogfighting Kennel, U.S. Says

    Federal investigators say that they seized 190 pit-bull-type dogs from the former player, who previously pleaded guilty to state dogfighting charges in 2004.The federal authorities said this week that they had broken up a major dogfighting kennel in Oklahoma led by the former National Football League running back LeShon Johnson, seizing 190 pit-bull-type dogs in what they described as the most ever taken from a single person in a federal case.In a news release, the Justice Department said on Tuesday that a 21-count indictment against Mr. Johnson, 54, had recently been unsealed in federal court in Muskogee, Okla. He was arrested on March 20 and arraigned the same day before being released, according to court documents.Mr. Johnson, who played for the Green Bay Packers, the Arizona Cardinals and the New York Giants in the 1990s, is facing felony charges of possessing and trafficking dogs for use in an animal fighting venture. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.He previously pleaded guilty to state dogfighting charges in 2004 and received a five-year deferred sentence.“The F.B.I. will not tolerate criminals that harm innocent animals for their twisted form of entertainment,” Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, said in a statement. “The F.B.I. views animal cruelty investigations as a precursor to larger, organized crime efforts, similar to trafficking and homicides.”Courtney R. Jordan, a lawyer for Mr. Johnson, declined to comment on Wednesday.Investigators say that Mr. Johnson “selectively bred ‘champion’ and ‘grand champion’ fighting dogs — dogs that have respectively won three or five fights” as part of his criminal enterprise, which was known as Mal Kant Kennels and was based in Broken Arrow, Okla., and Haskell, Okla.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Scenes From Eight States Battered by Weekend Storms

    A cross-country storm system tore through the South and the Midwest over the weekend, accompanied by tornadoes, dust storms and wildfires. Severe damage was reported in at least eight states.Number of reported deaths from storms and firesOfficials reported at least 40 deaths across seven states that have been attributed to severe weather in the South and Midwest. More

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    ‘It Got Everything’: Oklahoma Residents Who Escaped Fires Brace for Losses

    Hundreds of homes and other buildings were destroyed in Oklahoma, as fierce winds and wildfires swept the region. More than 150 blazes were burning in Oklahoma alone, damaging many structures and hundreds of thousands of acres, and causing one death.Nick Oxford/ReutersWhen Geraldine and Charles Wyrick heard shouts ring out through their community of a dozen trailer homes on Friday afternoon near Wellston, Okla., they knew the fires were near. It was time to get out. As Ms. Wyrick rushed to her Chevy Tahoe, and Mr. Wyrick to his pickup truck, they noticed that a neighboring family of five did not have a working vehicle. They, too, scrambled into the truck, along with several dogs. In the chaos, there was no time to salvage any personal belongings.On Saturday, talking at an emergency shelter in Stillwater, Okla., Mr. Wyrick, a 70-year old retired mechanic, said their home and entire neighborhood had likely been destroyed by the fire, alongside many of his prized possessions: a pontoon boat, three trailers and a tractor.“It got everything,” his wife said.From the Texas Panhandle to the suburbs of Oklahoma City, residents braced on Saturday to assess the damage after wildfires and smoke forced many to evacuate.In Oklahoma, nearly 300 homes and other structures were destroyed, Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a news conference on Saturday. At least 50 of those structures were in Stillwater, home to about 50,000 people and Oklahoma State University.Videos on social media showed houses consumed by flames. He described visiting neighborhoods where just a few homes had been spared, while the rest were little more than rubble.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Former Texas Megachurch Pastor Is Indicted on Child Sex Abuse Charges

    Robert Morris, the former senior pastor of the Dallas-based Gateway Church, abused a girl over several years in the 1980s, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said.Robert Morris, the founder of a Texas megachurch and a former faith adviser to the Trump White House, was indicted Wednesday on charges that he molested a girl over several years in the 1980s, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said.Last summer, days after Cindy Clemishire publicly accused Mr. Morris, 63, of having abused her when she was a girl, Mr. Morris resigned as the senior pastor of the Dallas-based Gateway Church.On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted Mr. Morris on five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child after concluding that he had used his hands and body to touch the girl’s private parts from when she was 12 until she was 14, according to the indictment. The indictment refers to the girl only as C.C.Ms. Clemishire, 55, of Oklahoma, told The Dallas Morning News last year that the abuse had begun when her family invited Mr. Morris — then a young, traveling preacher — to stay at their home in Oklahoma on Christmas Day in 1982. It took her decades to realize that what had happened to her was abuse and a crime, Ms. Clemishire told the newspaper.In a statement on Wednesday, Ms. Clemishire said, “After almost 43 years, the law has finally caught up with Robert Morris for the horrific crimes he committed against me.” She added, “My family and I are deeply grateful to the authorities who have worked tirelessly to make this day possible and remain hopeful that justice will ultimately prevail.”Lawyers who had represented Mr. Morris did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment.In a statement to The Christian Post last year after Ms. Clemishire made her allegations, Mr. Morris, who founded Gateway Church in 2000, confessed that he had engaged in “inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady.” Gateway Church, one of the largest churches in the United States, claimed to have more than 100,000 attendees.In a statement on Wednesday night, Gateway Church said: “We are aware of the actions being taken by the legal authorities in Oklahoma and are grateful for the work of the justice system in holding abusers accountable for their actions. We continue to pray for Cindy Clemishire and her family, for the members and staff of Gateway Church, and for all of those impacted by this terrible situation.”Mr. Morris had served on a faith advisory council during President Trump’s first term. He hosted Mr. Trump at Gateway Church in June 2020. In 2024, a spokesman for Mr. Trump said that Mr. Morris had not played a role in his 2024 presidential campaign.Specifics about the criminal investigation into Ms. Clemishire’s claims were not immediately available. The charges that Mr. Morris faces each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.Sheelagh McNeill More

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    Vast Storm Knocks Out Power in North Texas

    The storm is expected to intensify, bringing the threat of blizzards, tornadoes and damaging winds across the central and southern United States.More than 380,000 customers in North Texas were without power on Tuesday morning as a powerful storm with strong winds swept across the region.The storm, part of a system that stretched from Iowa to Texas, was expected to strengthen as it moved east on Tuesday. Warnings were in place for blizzards in the Plains and severe storms across the South, with damaging gusts, hail and possible tornadoes forecast from eastern Oklahoma to Alabama.Flights into Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were briefly halted, and about 10 percent of departing flights out of the airport were canceled as of Tuesday morning, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight data.A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect in Texas until 8:30 a.m. local time, including for the cities of Palestine, Fairfield and Buffalo, according to the National Weather Service.In southern Oklahoma, more than 20,000 customers were without power, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us. A mobile home in Ada, Okla., was destroyed after a possible tornado hit, according to KOCO-TV, a television station in Oklahoma City. More

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    Republican says he wouldn’t back unconstitutional third Trump term

    A conservative lawmaker poured cold water on extremist Republican fantasies that Donald Trump could find a way to run for an unconstitutional third presidential term, saying he would not support that barring an amendment to the US constitution that would legalize it.Asked Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press about Trump’s boasts that he might just stay in the Oval Office after his second presidency ends in 2028, the Republican US senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said: “No, I’m not changing the constitution, first of all, unless the American people chose to do that.”The comments from Mullin – who made it a point to invoke the maxim among some that Trump should be taken seriously though not literally – referred to a 1951 constitutional amendment that barred US presidents from serving beyond two terms.The exchange between Meet the Press host Kristen Welker and Mullin came after after Republican congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee proposed a resolution in support of a constitutional amendment that would allow Trump to serve a third stint in the White House because his two terms were not consecutive. That would bar the other three living former presidents who served two consecutive terms from seeking the Oval Office again.Furthermore, Trump recently referred to himself as “King” – a title with no term limits – when discussing his push to halt New York’s congestion pricing policy.The US constitution expressly forbids presidents from running for a third term thanks to its 22nd amendment. That amendment was introduced after Franklin D Roosevelt served two terms after being elected in 1932 – and then was re-elected in 1940 and 1944 amid the second world war. He served as president until his death in 1945.Proposing to change that amendment – in the form Ogles suggested or otherwise – would need approval from two-thirds of both the US Senate and House, which is a margin of control that Trump’s Republican party does not have in Congress. Three-fourths of the US’s state legislatures also would need to approve the change.Republicans as of last year controlled only the legislatures and governorships of about 23 of the US’s 50 states. Democrats controlled those same levers of power in 17 states, with the rest being divided.Nonetheless, that steep math has not stopped Trump from raising the possibility of staying in office beyond his second presidential term since his victory in November’s White House election.At a White House event on Thursday, he teased: “Should I run again? You tell me.”The audience, which included elected Republican officials like US senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Congressman John James of Michigan as well as famed golfer Tiger Woods, responded with chants of: “Four more years!”According to the Washington Post, Trump remarked that the crowd reaction to his comments would draw “controversy”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThey did indeed.On Sunday, the Democratic US House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said Trump is trying to “disorient everyday Americans” by talking about a third term and referring to himself as a monarch. Jeffries said those “outrageous” comments were “intentionally unleashing extremism”.Trump “is not a king”, Jeffries said on CNN’s State of the Union. “We will never bend the knee. Not now, not ever. And we’ll continue to point out that he’s focused on the wrong things.”As Republicans are wont to do when Trump muses on unconstitutional ideas, Mullin on Sunday insisted Trump was only joking about pursuing a third White House term.“The president is a very interesting guy that you can find extreme humor when you sit down to visit with him,” Mullin added. “At the same time, he can be deadly serious.” More

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    Oldest living survivor of Tulsa race massacre casts vote for Kamala Harris

    Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa race massacre, cast her ballot in Oklahoma on Tuesday at 110 years old for Kamala Harris.In a photo shared on social media, Fletcher is wearing an “I voted” sticker, and according to CNN journalist Abby Phillip, Fletcher voted for the vice-president, as she had previously said she would.Fletcher was just seven years old in 1921 when a white mob attacked the city’s “Black Wall Street”, killing an estimated 300 African Americans. The mob also robbed and burned more than 1,200 businesses, churches and homes, which left thousands of people homeless.In 2021, 100 years after the massacre occurred, Fletcher and other survivors testified before Congress in support of a lawsuit brought in 2020 aimed at getting reparations for the destruction of Greenwood, a once-thriving Black district.The lawsuit argued that Tulsa’s history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre and noted that the city and insurance companies never compensated the victims.The lawsuit also argued that the massacre resulted in racial and economic disparities in the region that still exist today.In 2023, an Oklahoma judge dismissed the lawsuit, undermining efforts to secure some legal justice for the elderly survivors.That same year, Fletcher released her memoir, Don’t Let Them Bury My Story, which details the impact of the Tulsa massacre on her life and advocates for racial justice.Lessie Benningfield Randle, one of other last living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, also cast her vote in the 2024 election this week, according to Essence.Randle, who is 109 years old, told Essence, that if this is her last ballot, “then I’m grateful that it’s for Kamala Harris”.“My grandchildren deserve a world where taking care of their parents isn’t a financial struggle, medication is affordable and women are free,” she said. “And our children deserve a president who will inspire them to learn from history, not a tyrant who will try to erase it.” More