WINTER STORM - The Consequences

"Millions remain without power in frigid temperatures after major winter storm" PBS NewsHour 2/16/2021

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SUMMARY:  Millions of American remained without power in frigid temperatures Tuesday as the U.S. continues to grapple with the effects of a major storm.  The demand for energy is taxing power grids, most significantly in Texas.  Stephanie Sy speaks with Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy program at the Stanford University Woods Institute for the Environment, to learn more.

 

 

"Americans grapple with historic weather, with much of the U.S. still locked in deep freeze" PBS NewsHour 2/17/2021

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SUMMARY:  Most of the nation is still locked in the deep freeze as a polar vortex that swept south is holding sway, claiming at least 30 lives and keeping the power off for more than 3 million people.  Stephanie Sy reports, and speaks to Mayor Harry LaRosiliere of Plano, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Mayor David Holt about how the weather is impacting their cities.

 

 

"After brutalizing much of the U.S., storm surge shines a spotlight on disparities" PBS NewsHour 2/18/2021

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SUMMARY:  The storms that have descended on much of the country, and their after-effects, have hit vulnerable groups the hardest, especially communities of color.  Dr. Robert Bullard, a professor at Texas Southern University who focuses on wealth and racial disparities related to the environment, joins Stephanie Sy from Sugar Land, Texas to discuss.

 

 

"Power largely restored in Texas, but millions remain without drinking water" PBS NewsHour 2/19/2021

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SUMMARY:  The lights are back on in much of Texas, but for millions the water isn't working.  It is the latest crisis in a grinding week of winter storms that have claimed at least 60 lives.  Stephanie Sy reports, and speaks to Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, president and CEO of Harris Health System in the Houston area, to learn more about how water outages are severely impacting hospitals.

 

 

"Recovery may take months even as more help reaches storm-hit Texas" PBS NewsHour 2/20/2021

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SUMMARY:  President Biden declares a disaster in Texas on Saturday, allowing affected Texans to apply for emergency grants for housing and low-cost loans to cover losses from the winter storm, which has left millions in the state without heat, power and water.  For more on community impact and response to the winter storm, Hari Sreenivasan spoke with Texas U.S. Representative Colin Allred from Dallas.

OKLAHOMA - Broken Justice

"Oklahoma’s governor on 2nd chances and reducing mass incarceration" PBS NewsHour 11/5/2019

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SUMMARY:  In Oklahoma, 462 people left prison Monday in the largest single-day commutation in U.S. history.  Republican Governor Kevin Stitt had signed off on their release based on the recommendation of the state’s Pardon and Parole Board.  Oklahoma has the nation’s highest incarceration rate, and its officials are now considering other criminal justice reforms.  Gov. Stitt joins William Brangham to discuss.

AMERICA ADDICTED - Johnson & Johnson Court Judgment

"What Okla. judgment against Johnson & Johnson means for opioid accountability" PBS NewsHour 8/26/2019

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SUMMARY:  An Oklahoma judge delivered a $572 million judgment against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson in the first major legal decision to go against a drugmaker for its role in the opioid crisis.  The judge found the company’s marketing practices helped flood the state with painkillers.  William Brangham talks to StateImpact Oklahoma’s Jackie Fortier about the case's unusual argument and broad impact.

SEVERE STORMS - Indiana, Ohio, and Oklahoma Consequences

"Overnight tornadoes devastate parts of Indiana and Ohio" PBS NewsHour 5/28/2019

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SUMMARY:  A string of tornadoes cut a path of destruction across parts of Ohio and Indiana Monday night.  The twisters, some with winds of 140 miles per hour, flattened entire neighborhoods, killing at least one person and wounding dozens more.  Millions are without power as officials scramble to uncover the scope of the damage and encourage residents to check on their neighbors.  Judy Woodruff reports.

"With record rain, Oklahoma’s levee system is under extreme pressure" PBS NewsHour 5/28/2019

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SUMMARY:  Severe weather is devastating the American Heartland.  Spring storms have led to at least eight deaths in Oklahoma, which has been hit by tornadoes and record rain.  With more precipitation expected, state officials are closely watching levee systems for signs of a potentially catastrophic failure.  Judy Woodruff speaks by phone with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt about managing the situation.

"What’s behind the recent rash of violent weather" PBS NewsHour 5/29/2019

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SUMMARY:  Violent weather has tormented regions from the Rocky Mountains to the Mid-Atlantic in recent weeks.  In Kansas Tuesday night, strong tornadoes tore houses apart, littered an airport runway with debris and hoisted a car onto a roof -- but widespread flooding may be the biggest and most prolonged threat.  William Brangham talks to atmospheric scientist Victor Gensini about the brutal spring weather.

William Brangham (NewsHour):  My understanding is, there's been some reporting that climate change perhaps might be shifting where certain tornadoes might be hitting, hitting places that are not used to them.

Is that right?

Victor Gensini, Northern Illinois University:  That's exactly right.

We did a study last October that looked at, well, the number of tornadoes across the United States really hasn't changed very much over the last 40 years, but where they're happening has been changing.

So places like Tornado Alley, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, we have been seeing a downward trend in some of those locations, and an increasing trend further to east in places like Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and portions of the Midwest, which is a big deal for population density and vulnerability, of course, the exposure, as we have many more people living east of the Mississippi River.

"The radical approach these communities have taken to flood mitigation" PBS NewsHour 5/28/2019

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SUMMARY:  The U.S. has experienced its wettest 12-month period on record.  Scientists warn that climate change is causing more intense storms, resulting in increased flooding risk for millions of Americans living near rivers and along the coasts.  How can vulnerable communities prepare?  Special correspondent Cat Wise reports on a radical approach some are exploring: relocation of the towns themselves.

THE RESISTANCE - Sending In the Wrecking Ball

"Peter's Choice" by Rick Perlstein, Mother Jones Jan/Feb 2017 Issue

I asked my student why he voted for Trump.  The answer was thoughtful, smart, and terrifying.

This past October, I taught a weeklong seminar on the history of conservatism to honors students from around the state of Oklahoma.  In five long days, my nine very engaged students and I got to know each other fairly well.  Six were African American women.  Then there was a middle-aged white single mother, a white kid who looked like any other corn-fed Oklahoma boy and identified himself as "queer," and the one straight white male.  I'll call him Peter.

Peter is 21 and comes from a town of about 3,000 souls.  It's 85 percent white, according to the 2010 census, and 1.2 percent African American—which would make for about 34 black folks.  "Most people live around the poverty line," Peter told the class, and hunting is as much a sport as a way to put food on the table.

Peter was one of the brightest students in the class, and certainly the sweetest.  He liked to wear overalls to school—and on the last day, in a gentle tweak of the instructor, a red "Make America Great Again" baseball cap.  A devout evangelical, he'd preferred former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at the start of the primary season, but was now behind Donald Trump.

One day the students spent three hours drafting essays about the themes we'd talked about in class.  I invited them to continue writing that night so the next morning we could discuss one of their pieces in detail.  I picked Peter's because it was extraordinary.  In only eight hours he'd churned out eight pages, eloquent and sharp.

When I asked him if I could discuss his essay in this article, he replied, "That sounds fine with me.  If any of my work can be used to help the country with its political turmoil, I say go for it!"  Then he sent me a new version with typos corrected and a postelection postscript: "My wishful hope is that my compatriots will have their tempers settled by Trump's election, and that maybe both sides can learn from the Obama and Trump administrations in order to understand how both sides feel.  Then maybe we can start electing more moderate people, like John Kasich and Jim Webb, who can find reasonable commonality on both sides and make government work." Did I mention he was sweet?

When he read the piece aloud in class that afternoon in October, the class was riveted.  Several of the black women said it was the first time they'd heard a Trump supporter clearly set forth what he believed and why.  (Though, defying stereotypes, one of these women—an aspiring cop—was also planning to vote for Trump.)

Peter's essay took off from the main class reading, Corey Robin's The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism From Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin.  Its central argument is that conservative movements across history are united in their devotion to the maintenance of received social hierarchy.  Peter, whose essay was titled "Plight of the Redneck," had a hard time seeing how that applied to the people he knew.

"We all live out in the wilderness, either in the middle of a forest or on a farm," he wrote.  "Some people cannot leave their homes during times of unfortunate weather.  Many still dry clothes by hanging them on wires with clothespins outside.  These people are nowhere near the top, or even the middle, of any hierarchy.  These people are scraping the bottom of the barrel, and they, seemingly, have nothing to benefit from maintaining the system of order that keeps them at the bottom."  His county ended up going about 70 percent for Trump.

Concerning race, Peter wrote, "In Oklahoma, besides Native Americans, there have traditionally been very few minorities.  Few blacks have ever lived near the town that I am from...Even in my generation, despite there being a little more diversity, there was no racism, nor was there a reason for racism to exist."  His town's 34 or so black people might beg to differ, of course; white people's blindness to racism in their midst is an American tradition.  As one of the African American students in the class—I'll call her Karen—put it, whites in her town see "racism as nonexistent unless they witness it firsthand.  And then it almost has to be over the top—undeniable acts of violence like hate crimes or cross burnings on front lawns—before they would acknowledge it as such."  But it's relevant to the story I'm telling that I'm certain Peter isn't individually, deliberately racist, and that Karen agrees.

Still, Peter's thinking might help us frame a central debate on the left about what to make of Trump's victory.  Is it, in the main, a recrudescence of bigotry on American soil—a reactionary scream against a nation less white by the year?  Or is it more properly understood as an economically grounded response to the privations that neoliberalism has wracked upon the heartland?

Peter knows where he stands.  He remembers multiple factories and small businesses "shutting down or laying off.  Next thing you know, half of downtown" in the bigger city eight miles away "became vacant storefronts."  Given that experience, he has concluded, "for those people who have no political voice and come from states that do not matter, the best thing they can do is try to send in a wrecking ball to disrupt the system."

When Peter finished with that last line, there was a slight gasp from someone in the class—then silence, then applause.  They felt like they got it.

I was also riveted by Peter's account, convinced it might be useful as a counterbalance to glib liberal dismissals of the role of economic decline in building Trumpland.  Then I did some research.

According to the 2010 census, the median household income in Peter's county is a little more than $45,000.  By comparison, Detroit's is about $27,000 and Chicago's (with a higher cost of living) is just under $49,000.  The poverty rate is 17.5 percent in the county and 7.6 percent in Peter's little town, compared with Chicago's 22.7 percent.  The unemployment rate has hovered around 4 percent.

The town isn't rich, to be sure.  But it's also not on the "bottom." Oklahoma on the whole has been rather dynamic economically: Real GDP growth was 2.8 percent in 2014—down from 4.3 percent in 2013, but well above the 2.2 percent nationally.  The same was true of other Trump bastions like Texas (5.2 percent growth) and West Virginia (5.1 percent).

Peter, though, perceives the region's economic history as a simple tale of desolation and disappointment.  "Everyone around was poor, including the churches," he wrote, "and charities were nowhere near (this wasn't a city, after all), so more people had to use some sort of government assistance.  Taxes went up [as] the help became more widespread."

He was just calling it like he saw it.  But it's striking how much a bright, inquisitive, public-spirited guy can take for granted that just is not so.  Oklahoma's top marginal income tax rate was cut by a quarter point to 5 percent in 2016, the same year lawmakers hurt the working poor by slashing the earned-income tax credit.  On the "tax burden" index used by the website WalletHub, Oklahoma's is the 45th lowest, with rock-bottom property taxes and a mere 4.5 percent sales tax.  (On Election Day, Oklahomans voted down a 1-point sales tax increase meant to raise teacher pay, which is 49th in the nation.).

As for government assistance, Oklahoma spends less than 10 percent of its welfare budget on cash assistance.  The most a single-parent family of three can get is $292 a month—that's 18 percent of the federal poverty line.  Only 2,469 of the more than 370,000 Oklahomans aged 18 to 64 who live in poverty get this aid.  And the state's Medicaid eligibility is one of the stingiest in the nation, covering only adults with dependent children and incomes below 42 percent of the poverty level—around $8,500 for a family of three.

But while Peter's analysis is at odds with much of the data, his overall story does fit a national pattern.  Trump voters report experiencing greater-than-average levels of economic anxiety, even though they tend have better-than-average incomes.  And they are inclined to blame economic instability on the federal government—even, sometimes, when it flows from private corporations.  Peter wrote about the sense of salvation his neighbors felt when a Walmart came to town: "Now there were enough jobs, even part-time jobs...  But Walmart constantly got attacked by unions nationally and with federal regulations; someone lost their job, or their job became part-time."

It's worth noting that if the largest retail corporation in the world has been conspicuously harmed by unions and regulations of late, it doesn't show in its profits, which were $121 billion in 2016.  And of course, Walmart historically has had a far greater role in shuttering small-town Main Streets than in revitalizing them.  But Peter's neighbors see no reason to resent it for that.  He writes, "The majority of the people do not blame the company for their loss because they realize that businesses [are about] making money, and that if they had a business of their own, they would do the same thing."

It's not fair to beat up on a sweet 21-year-old for getting facts wrong—especially if, as is likely, these were the only facts he was told.  Indeed, teaching the class, I was amazed how even the most liberal students took for granted certain dubious narratives in which they (and much of the rest of the country) were marinated all year long, like the notion that Hillary Clinton was extravagantly corrupt.

Feelings can't be fact-checked, and in the end, feelings were what Peter's eloquent essay came down to ­— what it feels like to belong, and what it feels like to be culturally dispossessed.  "After continually losing on the economic side," he wrote, "one of the few things that you can retain is your identity.  What it means, to you, to be an American, your somewhat self-sufficient and isolated way of life, and your Christian faith and values.  Your identity and heritage is the very last thing you can cling to...Abortion laws and gay marriage are the two most recent upsets.  The vast majority of the state of Oklahoma has opposed both of the issues, and social values cannot be forced by the government."

On these facts he is correct: In a 2015 poll, 68 percent of Oklahomans called themselves "pro-life," and only 30 percent supported marriage equality.  Until 2016 there were only a handful of abortion providers in the entire state, and the first new clinic to open in 40 years guards its entrance with a metal detector.

Peter thinks he's not a reactionary.  Since that sounds like an insult, I'd like to think so, too.  But in writing this piece, I did notice a line in his essay that I had glided over during my first two readings, maybe because I liked him too much to want to be scared by him.  "One need only look to the Civil War and the lasting legacies of Reconstruction through to today's current racism and race issues to see what happens when the federal government forces its morals on dissenting parts of the country."

The last time I read that, I shuddered.  So I emailed Peter.  "I say the intrusions were worth it to end slavery and turn blacks into full citizens," I wrote.  "A lot of liberals, even those most disposed to having an open mind to understanding the grievances of people like you and yours, will have a hard time with [your words]."

Peter's answer was striking.  He first objected (politely!) to what he saw as the damning implication behind my observation.  Slavery and Reconstruction?  "I was using it as an example of government intrusion and how violent and negative the results can be when the government tries to tell people how to think.  I take it you saw it in terms of race in politics.  The way we look at the same thing shows how big the difference is between our two groups."

To him, focusing on race was "an attention-grabbing tool that politicians use to their advantage," one that "really just annoys and angers conservatives more than anything, because it is usually a straw man attack."  He compared it to what "has happened with this election: everyone who votes for Trump must be racist and sexist, and there's no possible way that anyone could oppose Hillary unless it's because they're sexist.  Accusing racism or sexism eliminates the possibility of an honest discussion about politics."

He asked me to imagine "being one of those rednecks under the poverty line, living in a camper trailer on your grandpa's land, eating about one full meal a day, yet being accused by Black Lives Matter that you are benefiting from white privilege and your life is somehow much better than theirs."

And that's when I wanted to meet him halfway: Maybe we could talk about the people in Chicago working for poverty wages and being told by Trump supporters that they were lazy.  Or the guy with the tamale cart in front of my grocery store—always in front of my grocery store, morning, noon, and night—who with so much as a traffic violation might find himself among the millions whom Trump intends to immediately deport.

I wanted to meet him halfway, until he started talking about history.

"The reason I used the Civil War and Reconstruction is because it isn't a secret that Reconstruction failed," Peter wrote.  "It failed and left the South in an extreme poverty that it still hasn't recovered from."  And besides, "slavery was expensive and the Industrial Revolution was about to happen.  Maybe if there had been no war, slavery would have faded peacefully."

As a historian, I found this remarkable, since it was precisely what all American schoolchildren learned about slavery and Reconstruction for much of the 20th century.  Or rather, they did until the civil rights era, when serious scholarship dismantled this narrative, piece by piece.  But not, apparently, in Peter's world.  "Until urban liberals move to the rural South and live there for probably a decade or more," he concluded, "there's no way to fully appreciate the view."

This was where he left me plumb at a loss.  Liberals must listen to and understand Trump supporters.  But what you end up understanding from even the sweetest among them still might chill you to the bone.

VOTE 2016 - Oklahoma's Teacher Candidates

"Affected by budget cuts and testing, dozens of Oklahoma teachers are running for office" PBS NewsHour 10/4/2016

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SUMMARY:  Oklahoma ranks 45 out of 50 states in spending per student.  It's home to overcrowded classrooms and more than 100 districts that have approved four-day school weeks.  Now, more than 40 teachers who are tired of not being heard are trying to change things themselves -- by running for office.  Special correspondent Lisa Stark of Education Week reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  In some parts of the country, it's not just the presidential race on voters' minds.  State elections are taking center stage in some places, too, like Oklahoma, where education is at the forefront of the ballot.

Teachers are upset over spending cuts and what they see as a political assault on public education.  They have decided it's time to take matters into their own hands.  A record number of teachers are running for seats in the state legislature.  All of this comes as Oklahoma faces tough budget decisions.

Special correspondent Lisa Stark of our partner Education Week reports from Oklahoma as part of our weekly segment Making the Grade.

LISA STARK, Special correspondent:  Football is king in Oklahoma, so it's no surprise the Norman High School homecoming parade shuts down the town's main street.

There's candy for the kids, cheerleaders, and athletes, of course, and enjoying the ride, Oklahoma's teacher of the year, whose day job is deciphering algebra for ninth graders at Norman High.

This is Shawn Sheehan's sixth year teaching.

So, you love being a teacher?

SHAWN SHEEHAN, Oklahoma Teacher of the Year:  I do.  I love it.  I love working with kids.  I really do.  And I love math.  That sounds super nerdy, but I do love math.

LISA STARK:  So, it may seem odd that Sheehan, Oklahoma's top teacher, is ready to hang up the white board.

SHAWN SHEEHAN:  I made the decision to run for state Senate.

I think what it is, is, we have is a lack of representation at the state capitol.  We have folks up there who don't really understand what's going on in education and what's going on in our communities.

LISA STARK:  He's not the only one who feels that way.  Sheehan has joined more than 40 educators who have filed to run for the Oklahoma legislature.

Why do you think so many educators are running this year?

SHAWN SHEEHAN:  I think, in this state, educators are finally fed up.  And it's almost like a sense of, we don't have anything to lose at this point.

CHEROKEE NATION - War on Hepatitis-C

"How the Cherokee Nation plans to reverse the ‘silent epidemic’ of Hepatitis C" by Stephen Fee and Mori Rothman, PBS NewsHour 2/12/2016

In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation has waged war against Hepatitis C.

With infection rates among Cherokee Indians nearly five times higher than other racial or ethnic groups in the U.S., the group has become the first community in the country and one of only a few in the world to set a goal of completely eliminating the virus from its population.

The virus, which is most commonly transmitted through the sharing of needles, can lead to liver damage, cancer and even death.

That’s why Cherokee Nation officials began working with the University of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma State Health department and federal health officials to launch an initiative to tackle Hep C by boosting screening efforts and using the latest pharmaceutical research.

Because the federal government is responsible for providing health care to all American Indians, more members of the Cherokee Nation and other native groups pass through tribal hospitals and outreach clinics.

Dr. Jorge Mera, Director of Infectious Diseases for the Cherokee Nation, says that makes it easier to screen nearly everyone for hepatitis C, a cornerstone of the project.

“Most of our patients will come in through the system at some point,” Mera said.  “We will be able to screen them, and once we screen them and detect that they’re positive, engage them in care and hopefully treat them and cure them.”

One distinction being made is testing of all patients over age 20, a departure from the former strategy of singling out patients who had a history of intravenous drug use.

“We’re not doing screening based on risk factors, first because we know it doesn’t work well,” Mera said.  “Many providers will not ask risk factors with patients.  They don’t have the time to do it or it is a sensitive issue.”

Mera said he hopes the partnership will lead to discoveries that will be useful nationwide.

“We won’t be able to extrapolate what we do or find to every medical scenario in the United States, but I think everybody will learn a little bit from some of the things we did.”

EDUCATION - Universal Preschool

"Seeing success, conservative Oklahoma banks on universal preschool" PBS NewsHour 2/2/2016

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SUMMARY:  Children in Oklahoma don't wait for kindergarten to begin public education; there's preschool for anyone who wants it.  While costly, the government program has been hailed for the long-term benefits and has become a national model. Special correspondent Cat Wise reports from Tulsa.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  There’s growing interest in a number of cities and states to try funding universal pre-kindergarten programs.

Philadelphia is the latest city that wants to create one.  Oklahoma has long been home to early childhood education that’s widely cited as a model.

Special correspondent Cat Wise reports on how a liberal political priority became popular in a conservative state.

It’s part of our education series on Tuesdays, 'Making the Grade.'

STUDENTS:  A is for apple, apple.

CAT WISE (NewsHour):  In Oklahoma, the ABCs start before kindergarten.

STUDENTS:  D is for dog.

CAT WISE:  Children here begin public education at just 4 years of age, some as young as 3.   It’s preschool for anyone who wants it, and it costs the state about $7,500 per child per year.

WOMAN:   I like all those colors you’re using.

CAT WISE:  The program is hailed as a national model by the Obama administration and advocates who believe early education creates long-term benefits.

WOMAN:  What color is that one?  Very good.

CAT WISE:  It’s a costly government program in one of the reddest of red states, but it appears both Democrats and Republicans believe it’s working.

WILLIAM GORMLEY, Georgetown University:  It’s not every day that a very conservative state, like Oklahoma, establishes a new social program.   It’s not every day that a very poor state like Oklahoma establishes a new social program.

CAT WISE:  William Gormley is a professor of public policy at Georgetown University.  He has studied Oklahoma’s pre-kindergarten program in Tulsa for 15 years.

RACISM - University of Oklahoma

"Racist video by University of Oklahoma frat prompts protest, apologies and expulsions" PBS NewsHour 3/11/2015

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now, the continuing fallout at the University of Oklahoma after members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity were caught on camera singing racist epithets.

The video came out Saturday, and action was taken within 48 hours.  But the university, the national fraternity, and others are still the focus of many concerns.

It’s the chant that sparked outrage across the nation.

STUDENTS:  There will never be a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) SAE.  You can hang them from a tree, but they will never sign with me.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  The 10-second video triggered protests, and was quickly condemned by university president David Boren.

DAVID BOREN, President, University of Oklahoma:  This has broken my heart, that this could happen on our campus.  We have such a strong community. People respect each other.  This is not representative of our students.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  On Monday, the university closed its chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and members were forced to move out of the house by last night.

QUESTION:  Are you embarrassed?

STUDENT:  Extremely.  Can I say anything else?

STUDENT:  I’m very embarrassed.

QUESTION:  Do you have a place to go?

STUDENT:  Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Yesterday, two students who led the chant were expelled, but not officially identified.  Apologies quickly followed.

Nineteen-year-old Parker Rice of Dallas, Texas, said in a statement:  “I am deeply sorry for what I did.  This is a devastating lesson and I am seeking guidance on how I can learn from this.”

And the parents of 20-year-old Levi Pettit said, in their own statement, “He made a horrible mistake and will live with the consequences forever.”

The University of Oklahoma has indicated more people could face punishment after officials finish their investigation.

POLITICS - Republicans Beat-Back Tea Party in Primaries

"After Cantor’s upset, incumbents hold their ground in close primary races" PBS NewsHour 6/25/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Two weeks after the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, Republican in Virginia, went down to a stunning primary defeat, the establishment struck back Tuesday night.

From Mississippi to New York to Colorado, there were plenty of close races for incumbents, but they all survived.

The NewsHour’s political editor, Domenico Montanaro, is back with us to decipher what happened.

So, Domenico, what did happen?  This was supposed to be comeback night for the Tea Party, Mississippi.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, Political Editor:  Maybe, right?

I mean, we were wondering whether or not the Eric Cantor race would be an aberration or whether or not it would be the start of some kind of anti-incumbent trend.  And what it certainly looked like last night is that it really was just an aberration for Cantor, because there were some other issues at play where he ignored his district.

There were plenty, like we said in the intro, of very close races, Mississippi being one of them, but Thad Cochran, the incumbent senator there, longtime senator, eked out a win by just less than 2 percentage points over his Tea Party opponent.  And he did it in a very unique way.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Well, talk about that, because there’s a lot of discussion — and you have been looking into this today — about what happened in some of these heavily Democratic parts of the state.

DOMENICO MONTANARO:  Well, if you told me three weeks ago that a Republican would wind up winning a Republican primary by appealing to Democrats and black voters, I would have said he’s done.

And I think that’s why a lot of the political community was fairly skeptical that Thad Cochran and his team, with the Haley Barbour machine really in Mississippi, being able to pull that off.  And that’s exactly what they wound up doing.

OKLAHOMA - Botched Execution

My preferred execution for this A-hole is being put on a spit and slow roasted over hot coals.

"Botched execution in Oklahoma raises questions about lethal injection process" PBS NewsHour 4/30/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  In Oklahoma last night, an execution went terribly wrong after the state tried a new, untested combination of drugs in what was supposed to be a lethal injection.  Thirty-eight-year-old Clayton Lockett, convicted of shooting a 19-year-old girl and watching as friends buried her alive, wound up dying from a heart attack in what onlookers described as a gruesome process that took far longer than expected.

As a result, the execution of another convicted killer, which was supposed to take place two hours after Lockett’s, was put on hold by Oklahoma’s Republican governor.

Today, the White House press secretary deplored what happened:

JAY CARNEY, White House Press Secretary:  We have a fundamental standard in this country that, even when the death penalty is justified, it must be carried out humanely.  And I think everyone would recognize that this case fell short of that standard.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Later in the day, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said the state is launching an investigation.  She said it will try to determine Lockett’s cause of death and whether the Department of Corrections followed appropriate protocols and make recommendations to improve standards going forward.

But Governor Fallin also defended the state’s death penalty law.

TORNADOES - Oklahoma City, Largest in History

"Death of Storm Researchers Is Testimony to Inherent Danger of Studying Tornadoes" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 6/4/2013

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  Finally tonight, chasing storms, science, and risk.

The National Weather Service said Friday's deadly tornado near Oklahoma City was stronger than initially reported.  Meteorologists now classify it as an EF-5, the strongest ranking possible, with winds of 295 miles per hour.  It was also the widest twister ever recorded, 2.6 miles.  The storm and subsequent flooding killed 18 people.

Ray Suarez has more.

MAN:  Tornado on the ground.  Large tornado on the ground.

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour):  A storm chaser sounded the alert Friday evening as the enormous black funnel filled the dark sky just west of Oklahoma City.

Three of those killed were storm chasers themselves, Tim Samaras, 54, his son Paul, 24, and Carl Young, who was 45.  They were working for the Discovery Channel.  This was all that remained of their truck after it was caught in the open.

A colleague says escape was all but impossible.

BEN MCMILLAN, Storm Chaser:  It was a really wild tornado.  It was rapidly evolving.  There was multiple tornadoes that turned into one larger tornado.  And then the larger tornado went one way and then switched directions very quickly and went another way.  It was just a really hard storm to track.

RAY SUAREZ:  Indeed, this Weather Channel vehicle was picked up by the same storm and hurled 200 yards.  Only one of its chase team of three was seriously hurt.  It was all testimony to how inherently dangerous this profession is.  But another colleague says Tim Samaras was known for his caution.

PAUL STOFER, Storm Chaser:  He really knew what he was doing.  He didn't chase for the notoriety or the television or selling video.  He chased because he genuinely wanted to learn more about severe weather.

RAY SUAREZ:  The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., says the men killed Friday appear to be the first scientific researchers to die in pursuit of tornadoes.

"Storms, Science and Risk: Challenges Facing Extreme Weather Researchers" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 6/4/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The death of three storm researchers in Oklahoma helps spotlight the risks involved in studying extreme weather.  Ray Suarez talks with Howard Bluestein of the University of Oklahoma for more about chasing storms, dangers for both amateurs and professional scientists and some unexpected challenges (like traffic jams).

OKLAHOMA - The Monster Tornado

"Survivors of Monster Oklahoma Tornado Share Harrowing Stories" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 5/21/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In Moore, Okla., residents of the town devastated by a powerful tornado began surveying damage and assessing losses.  Rescue crews combed through rubble through the night, searching for survivors in a disaster that has so far claimed 24 lives.  Gwen Ifill reports on the grueling efforts to recover after the storm.

"Okla. Town Confronts Reality of Rebuilding After Stunningly Powerful Tornado" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 5/21/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  A monster tornado nearly flattened the town of Moore, Okla.  Jeffrey Brown gets reaction from Time Magazine's Jay Newton-Small, Sgt. Jeremy Lewis of the Moore Police Department, and Bob Henson from the National Center for Atmospheric Research about the devastation, the latest rescue efforts and the science behind the mighty storm.

From Time Magazine:

"Wrenching Decisions as Tornado Flattens School" by Jay Newton-Small 5/22/2013

"Oklahoma’s Dangerous Dearth of Storm Cellars" by Martha C. White 5/22/2013

"Tornado Warning:  Despite Oklahoma Alert, U.S. Weather Forecasting Service Needs Major Upgrades" by Jeffrey Kluger 5/21/2013

"Counting the Dead:  Joplin’s Coroner Explains" by Kayla Webley 5/21/2013

"Tornado-Proofing Cities in the Age of Extreme Weather" by Bryan Walsh 5/21/2013