Marshall Stewart

Saturation patrols this weekend will target DUI drivers going to and from school proms and other school related activities. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Captain George Brown says every prom season young people are killed or injured. He says troopers are making special efforts to try and prevent that this year. Special attention will be paid to I-244, I-44, Highways 169 and 75 and the downtown IDL.

The crackdown on DUI driving begins Saturday evening and runs through the early morning hours Sunday.

Round one of public hearings on a proposed sales tax extension is almost over. The last of the meetings in all nine Tulsa council districts is next week. City Councilor G.T. Bynum says the next step is to develop a draft proposal on what projects should be included, followed by another round of public hearings. Then the final product of what will be on the ballot will be decided.

Bynum says he still prefers a stand alone vote on streets only first, then a separate vote later on other capital improvement projects.

Damage assessments are in from last week’s tornadoes. Some areas in Eastern Oklahoma were harder hit, but a neighborhood near the Bixby and Broken Arrow city boundaries suffered the most damage in Tulsa County. Deputy Area Emergency Manager Jamie Ott says more than a dozen homes were impacted near 134th and South Garnett, with one destroyed. No injuries are reported though.

The National Weather Service says it was an EF-1 tornado that struck the neighborhood.

The Tulsa jail is back to normal operations, once again taking inmates arrested on just municipal charges. The switch was made last night after the prisoner population was reduced to 1725. The Sheriff's Office had stopped accepting those on municipal charges only after the numbers topped 1900. Since then, various methods have been used to reduce the population in the Moss Center, but officials say they're searching for a more permanent solution, which may include renegotiating the contract with the city of Tulsa.

A woman is killed in a Tulsa house fire. Captain Stan May says crews found the body just inside the front door of a home in the 1900 block of E.Marshall, but had to quickly abandon the structure. He says it was unstable and unsafe and the roof was collapsing. Crews had to fight the blaze from outside.

The Medical Examiner will determine the exact cause of death. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Cleanup is underway at the home of Rick Payne where a twister hit his house in a Bixby neighborhood near 131st and Garnett. He says everybody jumped into the closet just before the tornado struck early this morning. Everybody’s okay, but there’s lots of damage. He calls it a scary experience, but is glad no one was hurt.

Payne says they’ve had strong winds in the neighborhood before , but never an actual tornado until now.

One exhibit at the Enviro Expo in downtown Tulsa is a company that can wash and detail cars without water or any chemicals dangerous to the environment. D.J. Patterson with Eco-Green Mobile Detailing says they’ll come to your home and business and clean vehicles in an eco-friendly way. He says typically washing the car in the drive wastes 100 gallons or so of water, while their method doesn’t use any water.

The annual Enviro Expo targets downtown white collar office workers to show them how to become more ‘green’ in their daily lives. 

Saturday and Sunday are free landfill dump days for residents of Tulsa. All kinds of household items can be taken to the Quarry Landfill on 46th Street North to be dropped off, but Lara Weber with the city says you must show you live in Tulsa. A copy of a utility bill or drivers’ license with address can be used.

Nothing containing Freon is accepted, and there is a small charge for tires. The hours for the free dump days are 7am to 3pm Saturday and Sunday.

Tulsa police have plans to deal with nearly every possibility when large public events are held. Despite precautions, the Boston bombings show what can happen. Police Sargeant Les Young is in charge of special events for the department in Tulsa. He says citizens can help by staying vigilant and if they see anything suspicious, say something to an officer.

There are a couple of large scale events in the downtown area this weekend, so Young says they’re looking over operations plans to make sure everything is in place and ready to go.

The Tulsa County jail is not meant to hold more than 1700 inmates, but the current population is more than 1900. It’s prompted a move by the Sheriff’s office to deny entry to anyone arrested on municipal charges ONLY. Undersheriff Tim Albin says there’s a need to go further. He claims the city of Tulsa isn’t paying its’ fair share of jail costs, and says the contract may have to be renegotiated or the city should start operating its’ own jail.