Storm sweeps Southern Plains, spawning tornadoes

Storm sweeps Southern Plains, spawning tornadoes

OKLAHOMA CITY

An intense storm system that weather forecasters labeled “particularly dangerous” swept through the Southern Plains on Monday, spawning a few tornadoes that caused some damage and a deluge of rain but no reports of injuries.

The National Weather Service had warned that Monday evening could bring perilous weather to a large swath of western Texas, most of Oklahoma and southern Kansas. The storm was expected to move into western Arkansas.

As predicted, some tornadoes were reported early Monday evening, although they were in sparsely populated areas.

Education secretary used personal email for work, feds say

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has sometimes used her personal email accounts for government business and has not always properly saved the messages, according to an internal investigation released Monday.

The agency’s Office of Inspector General, which was investigating at the request of House Democrats, said it searched the department’s email system and found a “limited” number of messages to or from DeVos’ personal accounts. In total, it said there were “fewer than 100” emails linked to four personal accounts.

Texas transgender woman found dead

DALLAS

A transgender woman was found slain in a Dallas street over the weekend, authorities said, a month after a cellphone video showed her being brutally beaten in a separate case police said they investigated as a hate crime.

Muhlaysia Booker, 23, was found face-down early Saturday after Dallas police officers were called after reports of shots being fired. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Booker died from “homicidal violence,” police Maj. Vincent Weddington said. He did not elaborate on her death. No suspect has been identified.

N. Korea urges UN chief to act against US ship seizure

UNITED NATIONS

North Korea denounced the United States as “a gangster country” for seizing one of its cargo ships and urged U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to take “urgent measures” to contribute to stabilizing the Korean peninsula.

North Korea’s U.N. ambassador, Kim Song, said in a letter to Guterres obtained Monday by The Associated Press that the Trump administration committed “an unlawful and outrageous act” by taking over the ship Wise Honest and moving it to American Samoa. He called the seizure a violation of international law and the U.N. Charter.

Opening statements heard in ex-NFL player’s rape trial

VISTA, California

Kellen Winslow Jr., the son of a pro football star who himself earned more than $40 million in an injury-plagued NFL career, “took what he wanted,” including raping a 54-year-old hitchhiker and a 59-year-old homeless woman, prosecutors said Monday.

Meanwhile, defense lawyers argued the sex was consensual and asked jurors not to judge the married father for his “cheating ways.”

Winslow, 35, did not show any emotion during opening statements at his trial in Southern California as his father, a former star with the San Diego Chargers, sat behind him in the courtroom. The elder Winslow did not react as the accusations were discussed.

Associated Press