LITTLE ROCK — I-540 lanes
close for repairs
FORT SMITH - The southbound lanes of Interstate 540 between Arkansas 45 and Arkansas 255 will be closed beginning today, according to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department’s Fort Smith headquarters.
Arkansas 45 is also known as Old Greenwood Road, and Arkansas 255 in that area is called Zero Street.
The closures will last until Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.
The Highway Department said the lanes will be closed for repairs of the driving surface on bridges.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Dad jailed after girl found in cage
TULSA - Tulsa police said a man was jailed after authorities discovered his 18-month-old daughter locked in a metal dog crate inside his home.
Authorities were called to the home Sunday night after neighbors found a naked 4-year-old child in the backyard. When police arrived, officers discovered an 18-month-old girl locked in the kennel while the man was asleep in his bed.
A third child was found asleep next to the man.
Police told Tulsa TV station KOTV that the man said he took narcotic pain medicine, a muscle relaxant and anti-seizure medication and drank a beer before falling asleep.
The three children are now in state custody. The man was arrested on a felony child-neglect complaint.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSOklahoma 33 crash kills 3
SAPULPA, Okla. - Oklahoma Highway Patrol said a Mannford man and two Texans were killed in a head-on collision involving a pickup and a car just west of Sapulpa.
Troopers said Carmen Spicer, 36, of Mannford;
Donald Clift, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; and Jana Clift, 52, of Amarillo died in the crash about 12:15 p.m. Sunday.
The highway patrol said the collision occurred on Oklahoma 33 when the westbound pickup driven by Spicer crossed the centerline and collided head-on with the eastbound car driven by Donald Clift in which Jana Clift was a passenger.
A crash report said it wasn’t known why Spicer’s truck crossed the centerline.
The highway was closed for about 2 1/2 hours after the crash.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSBaby giraffe born at Springfield zoo
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.
- The zoo in Springfield has welcomed a new baby giraffe.
A 20-year-old giraffe named Gidget gave birth to a 159-pound female calf over the weekend at the Dickerson Park Zoo. Zoo spokesman Melinda Arnold said the calf was found Sunday and is the second born at the zoo this year.
The Springfield News Leader reported that the baby giraffe appears to be in good health.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSHomeowner shoots suspected intruder
MUSKOGEE, Okla.
- Police in Muskogee said a disabled veteran shot and wounded a suspected home intruder.
Police said the shootinghappened late Saturday in a home in Muskogee.
Authorities told KJRH television station in Tulsa that the suspected intruder was in stable condition at a hospital.
The suspect’s name has not been released. Authorities said they expect the man will be charged with first-degree burglary. Muskogee police said they do not believe the homeowner did anything criminal.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSStabbing fatal to 1 in Oklahoma City
OKLAHOMA CITY - Authorities said one person is dead after a stabbing in the parking lot of a southwest Oklahoma City nightclub.
Police said the stabbing happened early Sunday in the parking lot of the Copa Cabana Club.
Authorities said one man was stabbed in the shoulder.
He was taken to OU Medical Center, where he later died.
No arrests have been made. The victim’s name had not yet been released.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPlan for monument is raised again
POTEAU, Okla. - The idea to place a Ten Commandments monument on courthouse property has been raised again in LeFlore County.
The plan for the monument has been on hold since 2009, when a federal appeals court ruled that a similar monument in neighboring Haskell County was a government endorsement of religion.
LeFlore County Clerk Kelli Ford said the issue was raised at the Nov. 5 meeting of county commissioners, but was tabled until a later meeting so commissioners could consult with the district attorney’s office.
The Tulsa World reported that former Poteau Mayor Don Barnes and the Poteau Chamber of Commerce raised enough money in 2009 to buy a $15,000 monument, which is now displayed on private land near Poteau’s Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary Unit 63.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSGroup suing state over clinic’s funds
OKLAHOMA CITY - Planned Parenthood is suing the head of the Oklahoma Department of Health over the agency’s decision to withdraw federal funding for three clinics in the Tulsa area that provide food and nutritional counseling to low-income mothers.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland filed its lawsuit in federal court Friday against Terry Cline, Oklahoma’s Commissioner of Health.
Health department officials declined to comment on the lawsuit, but have said previously that the decision to terminate the Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, contracts was based in part on Planned Parenthood’s cost per participant exceeding those of other clinics.
Planned Parenthood alleges in its lawsuit that the health department has given a “hodgepodge of reasons” for ending the contracts, but that none of those reasons are supported by facts.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 11/13/2012