Morning News: An Even Bigger Tornado

Huge Tornado Wrecks Oklahoma Town: Two dozen are killed and swaths of Oklahoma City suburb Moore are flattened by a tornado that hit two schools and a hospital. At least seven children are among the dead. From the story of a teacher at one of those elementary schools:

Evans got some of her students into a bathroom, Cordray said she told her. The walls started falling in on them, so she jumped on top of them, shielding them with her body. After the storm had passed, Evans pulled children from the destroyed building. But she still doesn’t know how many of them survived.

Mayoral Polling: KING 5 released a poll of Seattle voters yesterday, and they say Mike McGinn is polling right up there (at 22 percent) with Undecided (23 percent). That’s cute, KING 5, but we all know there’s only one legally binding mayoral poll, and that’s the SLOG SUPER POLL. McGinn clinches that one with 44 percent of the nearly 5,000 votes.

Israeli and Syrian Troops: Shooting at each other at the ceasefire line in the Golan Heights this morning.

Pedestrian Struck by Light Rail Train in Sodo: At around 7:15 this morning, at Fifth Avenue and Holgate. The fiftysomething man is in critical condition, Central Link light rail is closed for the investigation.

UW Medicine Announces a “Strategic Affiliation” with Catholic PeaceHealth System: Announced yesterday, the deal will be explained further this fall, but a similar “affiliation” with Providence ended with Providence stopping abortion and hospice services. Go read <a href=”http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/faith-healers/Content?oid=16050396
“>Cienna’s feature about these mergers if you’d like to be fully freaked the fuck out.

Federal Food Safety Standards Affect Small Local Farms: Says one farmer, “Some of these [Good Agriculture Practices] standards are trying to make your farm less habitat-friendly and more [of a] sterile monoculture in the name of food safety.”

Studies Say Anti-Gay Laws Make Gay People Feel Shitty: “A small but consistent body of research suggests that laws that ban gay marriage—or approve it—can affect the mental health of gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans,” reports KUOW.

Watch This Interview with a Tornado Survivor: Just watch it, I’m telling you.