2 die in tornadoes

2 die in tornadoes

OKLAHOMA CITY

Tornadoes swept across portions of the Plains on Monday, killing two people in Oklahoma, including an elderly man who was inside a home that was torn apart by one of the violent storms.

An emergency management director said a man believed to be in his late 70s died when a tornado hit a home near Wynnewood, south of Oklahoma City. Authorities also confirmed the death of a man near the town of Connerville, Johnston County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Stacey Pulley said.

The storm was considered so violent that forecasters declared a “tornado emergency” for communities in the twister’s path.

California looks at easing water cuts

SAN FRANCISCO

California will consider lifting a mandatory statewide water-conservation order for cities and towns after a rainy, snowy winter eased the state’s five-year drought, water officials said Monday.

But an executive order by Gov. Jerry Brown would make permanent some of the measures adopted to deal with the current drought, including prohibitions against excessive water use while washing cars and watering lawns.

Members of the state Water Resources Control Board – czars of the state’s drought emergency program – will decide May 18 whether to remove the 11-month-old statewide order for mandatory water use cuts. The conservation effort required at least 20 percent water conservation overall by most of the water districts serving California’s nearly 40 million people.

Syria government extends cease-fire

DAMASCUS, Syria

A fragile and limited cease-fire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and its surrounding countryside has been extended for the third time, for another 48 hours starting at 1 a.m. this morning, the Syrian military said Monday.

The extension came a couple of hours before an earlier cease-fire was set to expire at 12:01 this morning. It is not clear why the one-hour gap was planned between the new cease-fire and the expiring one.

Just hours before the government announced the cease-fire, the United Sates said that a new agreement with Russia would replace localized, piecemeal cease-fires in Syria with a revived, nationwide truce.

Miss. sued over ‘religious rights’ law

JACKSON, Miss.

The American Civil Liberties Union and a gay couple are suing the state of Mississippi over a law to allow workers to cite their own religious objections to same-sex marriage as a reason to deny people services.

House Bill 1523, passed by the Republican-majority Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Phil Bryant, is set to become law July 1.

Mississippi’s law is among similar measures being passed around the country in response to last summer’s Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Official hopes to jump-start PR aid

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew got a first-hand look at the humanitarian impact of Puerto Rico’s $70 billion debt crisis Monday, touring an elementary school struggling with limited electricity and a hospital unable to provide some basic services to infants.

“It can only get worse,” Lew told reporters as he toured Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School in San Juan with Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

The Obama administration hopes to jump-start congressional efforts to aid the U.S. territory, and Lew’s one-day trip focused attention on how the 3.5 million U.S. citizens living on the island are struggling with the worsening financial situation.

Associated Press