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Oklahoma City metro-area achievers for June 19

The Canadian Valley Technology Center child care facility was destroyed by a tornado but opened again Monday at a Yukon church.

The co-owner of a company that charges people thousands of dollars for storm-chasing tours said Tuesday he isn't in the business of letting people gawk at damage. He apologized for bringing a news crew into the Moore area in one of his vans after the May 20 storm, giving neighbors the impression they were a tourist attraction.

In addition to the “Reaching Out,” a 22-track compilation from Oklahoma indie rock, folk and pop-punk bands, a wide range of Sooner State musicians, from Blake Shelton and Color Me Badd to Sugar Free Allstars and Horse Thief, have dropped digital singles to raise money for the cause.

When Oklahoma City Community College students returned to campus Monday, many of their classes weren't where they expected. College officials spent last week finding classroom space for all the college's summer courses after a tornado swept through campus, causing heavy damage to several buildings.

Redlands Community College owes more than $1.1 million in unpaid bills, including some dating back more than six months, according to a financial analysis released Friday. Although the report doesn't point to any single cause for the problem, it cites bad billing practices and years of uncollected tuition and fees as a contributing factor. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education requested the analysis.

El Reno man tried to outrun tornado rather than go to storm cellar.

More than 100 Oklahoma and Texas country players will perform on four stages Sunday at the Arbuckle Ballroom in Davis.

The U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday shows 53.45 percent of the state still is in moderate to exceptional drought.

The school will lease the 93,000-square-foot building in Yukon, which has been vacant for three years.

A National Weather Service official said preliminary EF5 ratings of Friday’s tornado in El Reno have not been verified by storm damage on the ground. “I think that rating needs to be reviewed a little more,” said Greg Carbin, weather service warning coordinator, in an online news conference sponsored by the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes. On Wednesday, radar wind speed indicators of more than 295 mph were used to give the storm the rare EF5 rating, the rarest and most destructive tornado on the rating system. Click here to read the complete article at tulsaworld.

Oklahoma news briefs for June 6, 2013

Papa John's donated $400,000 to relief efforts

The death toll from Friday's tornadoes and flooding remained at 20 while a search for three more flood victims continued. Nineteen victims have been identified.

Yukon police Sgt. Matt Fairchild saved storm spotter Chris Novy from drowning Friday night when Novy's car was pulled into a flooded drainage ditch.

Police are investigating the drowning of a toddler Wednesday at Lake El Reno. The parents were sleeping nearby in a car, police say.

Meteorologist doesn't “even want to imagine” what tornado would have done to densely populated areas.

A recovery center for storm victims is opening Tuesday in El Reno.

When Larry Fisher saw a tornado headed toward Canadian Valley Technology Center's El Reno campus, he moved his class into a basement. Minutes later, he found the classroom in ruins.

Richard Charles Henderson took a cellphone photo of the first tornado Friday and excitedly sent it to a friend. Minutes later, that tornado would kill him.