JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A tornado caused heavy damage in Missouri’s capital city as severe weather swept across the state overnight, causing at least three deaths and injuring nearly two dozen people as homes and businesses were ripped apart.

@MSHPTrooperF is in Jefferson City assisting @JeffCityPolice and Cole County Sheriff Dept. after tonight’s tornado. If you are NOT affected, please avoid the area. You will see several power lines down in these pictures. Treat them as though they are live. #MoWx pic.twitter.com/JHyNNfDX8F

— MSHP Troop F (@MSHPTrooperF) May 23, 2019

The National Weather Service confirmed that the large and destructive tornado moved over Jefferson City shortly before midnight on Wednesday.

“Across the state, Missouri’s first responders once again responded quickly and with strong coordination as much of the state dealt with extremely dangerous conditions that left people injured, trapped in homes, and tragically led to the death of three people,” Governor Mike Parson said.

Missouri Public Safety said the three were killed in the Golden City area of Barton County, near Missouri’s southwest corner, as the severe weather moved in from Oklahoma, where rescuers struggled to pull people from high water. The tornado hit during a week that has seen several days of tornadoes and torrential rains in parts of the Southern Plains and Midwest.

No deaths were reported in the capital, but Jefferson City Police Lt. David Williams said about 20 people were rescued by emergency personnel.

The weather service reported that a “confirmed large and destructive tornado” was observed over Jefferson City at 11:43 p.m. Wednesday, moving northeast at 40 mph (64 kph). The capital city has a population of about 40,000 and is located about 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of St. Louis.

“It’s a chaotic situation right now,” Williams said.

Williams spoke from the Cole County Sheriff’s office, where debris including insulation, roofing shingles and metal pieces lay on the ground outside the front doors. Authorities were discouraging people from beginning clean-up efforts until power is safely restored. Area hospitals set up command centers in case the need arises.

Missouri Public Safety tweeted that there was a possibility of more tornadoes and flash flooding.

Austin Thomson, 25, was in the laundry room of his complex of two-story apartment buildings to do his wash and noticed the wind started picking up. He saw sheets of rain coming down and a flagpole bend and then slam to the ground. The windows broke and he dove behind the washers and dryers.

After it calmed down, he walked outside to check the damage, and retrieved a stuffed animal for his daughter from his damaged apartment.

“There’s basically one building that’s basically one story now,” he said.

The National Weather Service said it had received 22 reports of tornadoes by late Wednesday, although some of those could be duplicate reporting of the same twister.

One tornado skirted just a few miles north of Joplin, Missouri, on the eighth anniversary of a catastrophic tornado that killed 161 people in the city. The tornado caused some damage in the town of Carl Junction, about 4 miles (6.44 kilometers) north of the Joplin airport, where several injuries were reported.

Storms and torrential rains have ravaged the Midwest, from Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.

Two barges broke loose and floated swiftly down the swollen Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma on Wednesday, spreading alarm downstream as they threatened to hit a dam.

Authorities urged residents of several small towns in Oklahoma and Kansas to leave their homes as rivers and streams rose.

The Arkansas River town of Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, was one such town. Town officials ordered a mandatory evacuation Wednesday afternoon because of the river’s rising level.

But Wednesday evening, a posting on the town’s official Facebook page sounded the alarm about the runaway barges for its 600 residents: “Evacuate Webbers Falls immediately. The barges are loose and has the potential to hit the lock and dam 16. If the dam breaks, it will be catastrophic!! Leave now!!”

There was no word by midnight Wednesday where the barges were on the river, but local television stations showing live video of the river and the lock and dam said they had not yet arrived.

The Arkansas River was approaching historic highs, while the already high Missouri and Mississippi Rivers were again rising after a multi-day stretch of storms that produced dozens of tornadoes. Forecasters predicted parts of Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas could see more severe weather on Thursday.

Deaths from this week’s storms include a 74-year-old woman found early Wednesday morning in Iowa. Officials there say she was killed by a possible tornado that damaged a farmstead in Adair County. Missouri authorities said heavy rain was a contributing factor in the deaths of two people in a traffic accident Tuesday near Springfield.

A fourth weather-related death may have occurred in Oklahoma, where the Highway Patrol said a woman apparently drowned after driving around a barricade Tuesday near Perkins, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City. The unidentified woman’s body was sent to the state medical examiner’s office to confirm the cause of death. Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said she isn’t yet listed as what would be the state’s first storm-related death.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fourteen public safety officers were awarded the Medal of Valor by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, including eight who responded to a shooting at a southern California polling place.

“Every officer, firefighter and first responder who receives this award embodies the highest ideals of service and sacrifice, character and courage,” Trump said during a White House ceremony.

Watch LIVE: President Trump Presents the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor https://t.co/tPqXH9Bgcp

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 22, 2019

The medal is the nation’s highest honor for bravery by a public safety officer.

Eight men from the Azusa, California, police department were honored for placing themselves in danger and saving the lives of civilians and fellow officers during the shooting on Election Day 2016. The recipients were: Retired Lt. Xavier Torres; Sgt. Seth Chapman; retired Sgt. Terry Smith Jr.; Sgt. Thomas Avila III; Sgt. Rocky Wenrick; Cpl. Andrew Rodriguez Sr.; senior officer Carlos Plascencia; and detective Manuel Campos.

When they arrived at the polling place, a person was shooting from a house across the street from a park. An elderly woman had been killed and a man lay wounded on a sidewalk. Two vehicles had collided and a woman in one of the cars was critically injured. The shooter was eventually killed and the officers were credited for preventing other deaths and injuries.

The other recipients were:

—Fire Capt. Dustin Moore and firefighter and paramedic Andrew Freisner of the fire department in Lenexa, Kansas, risked their lives to rescue a family from inside a burning apartment building on April 24, 2017. They climbed a ladder to the second floor, went inside and rescued an unconscious adult, two young children and the family dog.

—Ohio State University police officer Alan Horujko, who risked his life on Nov. 28, 2016, to save the lives of civilians. A driver had driven down a sidewalk and struck several pedestrians, and then got out of his car and began attacking people with a knife. Horujko killed the attacker after trying unsuccessfully to get him to disarm. Thirteen people were attacked and 11 were hospitalized, one in critical condition.

—Nicholas Cederberg, senior trooper with the Oregon State Police, who suffered life-threatening injuries while helping apprehend a man wanted for shooting his estranged wife eight times. The attacker rammed the patrol car and shot Cederberg in the right hip. As he lay on the ground, Cederberg was shot 12 more times. Five bullets were stopped by his armored vest, but seven penetrated his body. Cederberg underwent surgeries to repair a collapsed lung and two broken arms.

Two awards also were given to the families of fallen officers:

—Sgt. Verdell Smith Sr. of the Memphis, Tennessee, police department was clearing an intersection of pedestrians on June 4, 2016, when he was struck by a vehicle driven by a suspect in a triple shooting.

—Officer Brent Thompson of the Dallas, Texas, Area Rapid Transit Police Department was killed on July 7, 2016, during a shootout with a man who had just killed three Dallas police officers and wounded three others with an assault rifle. Thompson’s actions created a distraction that allowed others to aid the wounded and gave cover to officers so they could force the attacker inside a building where he was killed by the Dallas Police SWAT team

MANHATTAN — Thomas Lane, a highly experienced student affairs administrator, will become Kansas State University’s new vice president for student life and dean of students.

Kansas State University President Richard Myers announced the appointment of Lane, who currently serves as associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Missouri State University. His appointment follows a national search to replace Pat Bosco, who is retiring after nearly 50 years of service in student life administration at the university.

Lane will join Kansas State University on July 14 and brings more than25 years of experience in student life administration to his new job.

“We are excited to have found someone of Dr. Lane’s caliber for this vital position at K-State,” Myers said. “His broad experience in student life administration will serve him well as the top advocate for Kansas State University students while he plays a key role in ensuring and enriching their development and success.”

Lane will provide executive-level leadership, strategic planning, oversight and coordination of all units in the Division of Student Life, which include the Office of Student Life, Housing and Dining Services, Recreational Services, K-State Student Union, Career Center, Lafene Health Center, Counseling Services, Academic Achievement Center and many other key services and programs essential to student success. He also will provide leadership for the development and implementation of high-quality and student-centered approaches to support student success in nonacademic dimensions of student university experiences, and he will respond to student crises and issues and concerns, among many other duties.

“I am truly humbled and excited to be joining the K-State family,” Lane said. “During my time on campus, it was clear to me the university is deeply committed to students’ personal and academic success. I am greatly looking forward to working with students, faculty, staff, administration and alumni in ensuring a Wildcat student experience that is welcoming, inclusive and changes lives for the better.”

Lane has been in his current position at Missouri State University since June 2015. He joined the university in 2005, serving as assistant dean of students and director of the student union. He was promoted to assistant to the vice president for student affairs in 2008 and became the assistant vice president for student affairs in 2011, serving until his appointment as associate vice president for student affairs. Before joining Missouri State, Lane served as associate director of the student union and activities at Minnesota State University Moorhead, where he initially was assistant director of operations. He also has been a coordinator with Visitor and Information Services at Illinois State University.

Lane earned a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1991 and a master’s degree in educational administration in 1995, both from Illinois State University. He earned a doctorate in educational leadership and analysis in 2010 from the University of Missouri, where he serves as an adjunct assistant professor in the educational leadership cooperative doctoral program.