Oklahoma

Millie (also known now as The Weather Dog) is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi that was born in Oklahoma. Ross Janssen's cousin convinced him that having a Corgi would be the best idea. After a little hesitation, he decided to make the journey to Oklahoma and pick up the last female in the group. Ross decided on the name Millie because his cousin had a dog many years ago (an Airedale) named Millie, and he liked the name. Millie's good behavior and passion for adventure is the reason why she goes with Ross almost everywhere.

Oklahoma will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA volleyball tournament. The Sooners (21-10) learned Sunday they will begin tournament play on Friday against Wichita State (21-7) of the Missouri Valley Conference. The other first-round match in Norman will pit Conference USA champion Tulsa (30-2) against Louisiana State (25-4) of the Southeastern Conference. LSU is the 13th overall seed in the 64-team tournament. The two winners will play Saturday, with the sub-regional champion advancing to the round of 16 in University Park, Pa. Oklahoma will make its seventh NCAA tournament appearance, with four of those coming under coach Santiago Restrepo.

Oklahoma is the overwhelming favorite to win the first championship in the new-look Big 12. The Sooners won seven of the last 11 Big 12 titles when there were 12 teams. Now there are 10 teams that will play a round-robin schedule instead of divisional play. The first Big 12 title for the Sooners was 2000, when they also won the national championship in coach Bob Stoops' second season. Stoops says he had no idea that team would be so good. This time, everybody expects the Sooners to be good.

Oklahoma is No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason college football poll for the 10th time, edging Alabama for the top spot. The defending Big 12 champion received 36 of 60 first-place votes and 1,464 points in the Top 25 released Saturday. No. 2 Alabama, one of a record eight Southeastern Conference teams in the preseason poll, received 17 first-place votes and 1,439 points. No. 3 Oregon got four first-place votes, No. 4 LSU received one and No. 5 Boise State got two. Florida State is No. 6, the Seminoles' best preseason ranking since starting the 2004 season ranked fifth.

Rodney McGruder scored 20 points and Will Spradling added 15 as No. 16 Kansas State defeated Oklahoma 69-60 on Saturday in a matchup of unbeaten Big 12 teams. Romero Osby and Amath M'Baye both scored 12 points for Oklahoma. The Sooners (12-4, 3-1) kept pace with the Wildcats most of the way thanks to snagging 36 rebounds to Kansas State's 24. That would not be enough to counteract the damage done by turnovers; Oklahoma gave the ball away 16 times. Even so, Kansas State (15-2, 4-0)

A motorcycle rider from Oklahoma dies in an crash early Thursday in southwest Kansas. Around 1:30 a.m. The Kansas Highway Patrol says 38-year-old J. Chad Cheyenne McIntire was riding on U.S. 83 at the northeast edge of Liberal. Investigators say McIntire went off the right side of the highway and lost control. He was thrown from the bike. McIntire died at the scene. Investigators say he was not wearing a helmet. No one else was involved in the crash. McIntire was from Turpin, Oklahoma.

It wasn't long after the tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma that the relief effort began.  That includes Red Cross volunteers based in Wichita. Nurse practitioner Judith Haffner has volunteered with the Red Cross for 20 years. She tells us, "I can't imagine not going, somebody needs help. Why not?" Also prepared to head south from Wichita, 25 Red Cross ERVs or emergency response vehicles.  One of their primary focuses is providing hot meals. "That's something that most people don't think about that is needed, but when you're focused on cleaning up your home and salvaging as much as possible something as simple as a warm meal can go a long way.  Right now our main focus is going to be on providing those immediate basic needs of families, things like shelter, food, water.

Blake Bell has beaten out Drew Allen for the job of Oklahoma's backup quarterback behind starter Landry Jones. Coach Bob Stoops made the announcement after practice Tuesday night. The 6-foot-6 Bell is best known for operating the Sooners' "Bell-dozer" short-yardage run package late last season. He scored a team-high 13 rushing touchdowns on 41 carries over the final six games last season. Stoops says Bell has been more consistent overall than Allen, a junior who has played in five games each of the past two seasons and thrown for 160 yards in his career.

Ben McLemore scored 18 points, Jeff Withey added 13 points and nine rebounds and No. 3 Kansas shut down Oklahoma in a 67-54 victory Saturday that pushed the Jayhawks' winning streak to a nation-leading 17 games. Withey had four blocks and three steals, and Travis Releford added 10 points for the Jayhawks (18-1, 6-0 Big 12), who won their 33rd straight at Allen Fieldhouse to match the fourth-longest home winning streak in school history. Kansas opened a 29-21 lead at halftime and never was threatened in the second half, holding the Sooners to 35 percent shooting for the game.

Wichita-based Koch Industries, Inc. is making a $1 million donation to support relief efforts following the deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma. The OK Strong Disaster Relief Fund will receive half of that amount. The other half will be distrubuted through the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. The money will help affected families find housing, transportation, clothing and food. In addition to the monetary donation, Georgia-Pacific, a Koch-owned company, has donated six truckloads of paper products from 3 facilities across the United States.

Residents devastated by the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma are getting by with the help from complete strangers. Eyewitness News Reporter Lauren Seabrook spent a couple of days in Moore watching residents, officials and volunteers do whatever possible to salvage what's left of thousands of homes. Lauren is from the area.  Two of the homes destroyed in Monday's tornado belonged to her cousin and great uncle. Click here to learn how to help the people of Moore OK Wednesday, Lauren met up with Wichitan Jake Ramstack.

The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma released a statement Tuesday morning saying, "The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, in partnership with Oklahoma Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, is asking that the public support all rescue, recovery and disaster relief efforts with donations of cash to your favorite responding charity. Donations of items such as clothing and supplies are strongly discouraged. Financial donations will allow disaster relief agencies to purchase whatever items are deemed necessary without resulting in the additional burden of securing warehouse space and volunteers to work donated product.

It wasn't long after the tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma that the relief effort began.  That includes Red Cross volunteers based in Wichita. Nurse practitioner Judith Haffner has volunteered with the Red Cross for 20 years. She tells us, "I can't imagine not going, somebody needs help. Why not?" Also prepared to head south from Wichita, 25 Red Cross ERVs or emergency response vehicles.  One of their primary focuses is providing hot meals. "That's something that most people don't think about that is needed, but when you're focused on cleaning up your home and salvaging as much as possible something as simple as a warm meal can go a long way.  Right now our main focus is going to be on providing those immediate basic needs of families, things like shelter, food, water.

Storm Team 12 Chaser Scott Roberts has seen a few tornadoes during his career, and like any other, he won't soon forget the deadly tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma. "Standing there and looking up at it and seeing it overcome the right hand side of my view...that will stick," Roberts tells us. Roberts was in his vehicle, just less than a mile away from the tornado.  When it lifted, he made his way to Briarwood Elementary. "I saw it collapsed in the middle," Roberts remembers.  "Then, I heard there were 675 kids in there.

After holding Oklahoma State scoreless for six innings, Wichita State Baseball dropped a 7-2 final to the 16 th ranked Cowboys. The Shockers record stands at 31-25 (17-14 at home), while the Cowboys improved to 37-13 on the year. Despite tossing six scoreless frames, Kris Gardner took the loss. He falls to 2-6 on the season. He allowed just two runs, one earned, with three hits, three walks, and three strikeouts. The sophomore also hit a batter. Kenton Bevacqua improved his record to 2-2.  The senior tossed 6.1 innings allowing just one run on six hits.

The Wichita Wild (8-1) completed a season sweep over the Oklahoma Defenders (2-6) with a 73-7 win Saturday night in Hartman Arena in front of a crowd of 3,600 plus. Wild quarterback Rocky Hinds and running back Tywon Hubbard combined for a total seven touchdowns on the night. Defensive back Kendrick Harper led Wichita's defense against Oklahoma with a game high nine tackles and one interception which he returned for a touchdown. The Wild offensive showcase began two plays into the game with Hubbard taking off for a 27 yard touchdown run to hand the Wild an early 7-0 lead.

No one in the locker room wanted to harp on Oklahoma State too much. The K-State players wanted to talk about either Baylor or the Cowboys, it really didn't matter they said. Just another game, another time on the schedule, another chance to prove that the Wildcats are the best team in the Big 12. But when the prospect of playing Oklahoma State came up against playing Baylor in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament, Oklahoma State was on their minds. It's the game they wanted. Unlike KU and Iowa State, which goes off Friday before K-State tangles with Oklahoma State, these two teams split during the regular season and cost K-State an outright win of the Big 12 regular season title.

Rodney McGruder finished with 22 points but Kansas State wasn't able to hang on down the stretch, losing to Oklahoma State 76-70. Le'Bryan Nash and Marcus Smart each finished with more than 20 points, scoring 24 and 21 respectively.  Oklahoma State hit 15 of 17 free throws in the final four minutes of the game.  Kansas State was just 4 of 7 from the line in that same time span. Oklahoma State outscored Kansas State 36-24 in the paint, but Kansas State got 23 points off the bench compared to the Cowboys' 6.  The loss threatens Kansas State's chances of winning at least of a share of the conference title for the first time in 36 seasons.  If Kansas loses to Baylor the Wildcats will win a share of the Big 12 title.  The loss by Kansas State automatically gives Kansas at least a share of its 9th straight Big 12 title. 

Do you ever wonder if Kansas head basketball coach Bill Self was angry at his team for losing to Oklahoma State because it was a loss, or because his alma mater topped his Jayhawks in Lawrence? What was part of a seven game win streak for the Cowboys was also the start of an unprecedented three-game losing streak for the Jayhawks. KU then lost to TCU and Oklahoma, leaving fans wondering if the team had lost their edge, or if they ever had one at all. Since that game on February, 2nd - KU has clawed back to the Top 10 with two dominant wins over K-State and Texas, both in Lawrence.