Chris Hernandez upon his return from Joplin, MO

News release.

JOPLIN, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Public Safety tonight announced that 31 individuals have been confirmed as deceased as a result of the tornado that devastated Joplin on May 22.

At the direction of Gov. Jay Nixon, Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers have been deployed to expedite the notification of next-of –kin.

As of 9 p.m. Friday, May 27, the deceased victims whose next-of-kin have received notifications of their deaths are:

Grace Aquino, 46, of Joplin

Tami L. Campbell, 28, Joplin

Trenton Caton, 6, Pierce City

Raymond Chew, 66, Joplin

Clyde Coleman, 72, Galena, Kansas

Adam Darnaby, 27, Joplin

Ellen Doyle, 75, Joplin

Caley Hare, 16, Joplin

Hayze Howard, 1, Webb City

Harli Howard, 11, Webb City

Thomas Russell Howard, 29, Webb City

Nancy Martin, Miami, Oklahoma, age not confirmed

Randall E. Mell, 49, Joplin

Donald R. Miller, 49, Joplin

Doris Montgomery, 83, Joplin

Sharyl Nelson, 34, Joplin

Dennis M. Osborn, 34, Seneca

Shelly Marie Ramsey, 42, Neosho

Loretta Randell, 54, Joplin

Troy Raney, 39, Joplin

Johnny Richey, 52, Joplin

Tonya L. Sawyer, 41, Fort Scott, Kansas

Judy Smith, 71, Joplin

Virginia Solomon, 80, Joplin

Kayleigh Teal, 16, Pittsburg, Kansas

John Thomas, Jr., 40, Joplin

Sandra K. Thomas, 55, Carthage

Margaret Tuit, 92, Joplin

Miles Wells, 49, Webb City

Tiera Whitley, 20, Fulton, Kansas

Zach Williams, 12, Joplin

The Department of Public Safety will release a daily update of those individuals confirmed as deceased as a result of the tornado, following notification of next-of-kin.

Tornado Alley

Last Friday there was a wire story exclaiming how strange the severe weather season in Kansas had been so far...no tornadoes in May.  I suggested we have Gary Lezak, our chief meteorologist do an "explainer" about the science since so many other communities, most notably The South, had been hit so hard.

Managing Editor Brooke Givens told us we were tempting fate and she (knocking wood) voted no.

We did the "explainer."

The next day a tornado hit Reading, Kansas.  Then Sunday, Joplin, Missouri.  We expected bad weather Tuesday.  Didn't happen although it looked bad.  Then Wednesday, Sedalia and Poplar Bluff.  Both in Missouri.  Also Wednesday, baby tornadoes danced around the Kansas City metro area, sending kids in school to the hallways, business people to the basement.

 Brooke may have been right.  Maybe we tempted fate.  After all these years in the news business, I'm more than just a little bit superstitious when it comes to situations. 

At around noon Wednesday at 4720 Oak Street, moments before the storm was to arrive at Country Club Plaza, I ordered everyone left to stay away from the windows.  I looked around the newsroom and saw all of the STUFF that reporters, anchors and producers keep around them.  Photos in frames, rocks, videotapes.  I focused on a baseball bat, imagining it flying through the room as a deadly missile.

(Note to self.  Clean up this place.)

All of the TV stations were hard pressed to find real damage in Kansas City proper after four hours of wall-to-wall coverage.  Frankly, we were saved by the temperature.  Our baby funnels would have been much worse had they happened in the afternoon with more heat earlier in the day.

Scientists tried to explain why we in Missouri have experienced a "tornado tsumami."  (We called our coverage Tornado Outbreak, by the way.  I've broken myself of the alliteration trap.)

I don't know why but I do know this.  Larry Seward,  Mike Butler, Fernando Ochoa, Jill Jensen, Chris Hernandez, Sloane Heller, Lindsay Shively, Christina Medina, Beth Vaughn, Russ Ptacek, Jonathan Goede, Brandon Billinger, Chase Lucas, Lisa Benson, Al Miller, Nathan Shain, Matt Reeb and Tim Hellhake have done INCREDIBLE stories from Louisburg, Sedalia and Joplin.  Please look at some of their work and see if you don't agree.

My message to the other KC tv stations (for the July book)

On Katie's last day...I salute her for her finest interview.

Fast forward to 2:24...Katie's question: "Do you think the Pakistani government is protecting Al Qaeda within its borders?:

Great quote from the movie "Casino Jack"

...mediocrity is where most people live. Mediocrity is the elephant in the room. It's ubiquitous. Mediocrity in your schools. It's in your dreams. It's in your family. And those of us who know this - those of us who understand the disease of the dull - we do something about it. We do more because we have to. The deck was always stacked against us. You're either a big leaguer, or you're a slave clawing your way onto the "C" train.

Horrible Bosses Trailer

Believe!

Grizzlies bring big momentum to Game 4 vs. Thunder - USATODAY.com

To my Mom.

On this day when we honor our mothers, I can't stop thinking about the many times I irritated, angered, frustrated and perplexed my mom.

I was a difficult child.  Headstrong, willful.  Never obedient.  Because I was firstborn it's amazing, really, that my folks had any more!  Luckily Pam, Paula, Pat, Penny, Piper and Perry who were born after, gave them hope.

How lucky I am to have grown up in the 60s and 70s...a time when feminism bloomed and my life choices were much wider than Mom's.  When she was growing up, women who worked outside the home were teachers or nurses.

Mom always supported my choices, even when she didn't agree with them.  

Like when I moved to Reno to follow a boyfriend, leaving my stunned family behind in December, 1978.  My hand-written notes, attached to the Christmas tree, just made it worse.  My co-habitation with a man fifteen years my senior horrified Mom but she was never judgmental.  

Or when I married a man she had not even met.  I know she celebrates, as do I, our Carly who was the fruit of that union.

Or my politics, which are almost always the polar opposite of hers.

Today, I read an op-ed piece in the NYTimes entitled "When We Hated Mom." 

This piece does not describe our life on the farm north of Wagner, South Dakota.  Mom and Dad were ahead of the curve; they shared the responsibility of raising all seven of us.  However, one thing does ring true:  "...in the 1960s, full time homemakers spent 55 hours a week on domestic chores, much more than they do today."

I am grateful for the efforts my mom put into raising her seven children. Especially, the difficult one.  Me.