Local & Regional

As the rain pours and temperatures rise in the spring, the mold count climbs. This is around the time mold develops in Oklahoma due to the climate and region.  Martina Jelley M.D. with OU Physicians says sometimes the mold count can remain high because of warm weather.

"As the weather starts to get warmer in the spring, especially when there's been a lot of rain," Jelley says, "that's when it starts to really grow and start to float around more in the air, the mold spores. Usually in warmer areas it peaks in the summer time period."

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The mayor of the Oklahoma City suburb battered by a monstrous tornado says he is pushing to require safe-room shelters in all new homes.

Glen Lewis said Wednesday he will propose an ordinance in the next couple of days at the Moore City Council that would modify building codes to require the construction of reinforced shelters in every new home in the town of 56,000.

The suburb was also hit by a massive tornado in 1999 that followed nearly the same path as the storm Monday that killed at least 24 people.

CLAREMORE, Okla. (AP) — The Rogers County Election Board has voted to not certify results of a recent sales tax election after a resident filed a complaint alleging the county didn't give proper legal notice of the election.

Voters in Rogers County approved a 1-cent sales tax during a May 14 election. But a resident filed a challenge to the election results, saying the county didn't properly publish a legal notice of the election in a county newspaper before the vote.

Parents in a suburban Oklahoma City school district received a text message as an ominous tornado approached. Their children were being held at school until the storm passed or their parents picked them up.

Suddenly, parents had a gut-wrenching choice. Trust the safety of the school? Or drive frantically ahead of a massive tornado and attempt to take their children home?

The city of Tulsa is sending a contingent of workers to help with the recovery in Moore, including its coordinator for grants.

The city said Tuesday that the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency deputy director and the city's finance and grants coordinator are helping with communication efforts.

At the request of emergency managers, the city sent an urban search and rescue team to help with the search at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which collapsed in the tornado.