4 killed in shooting at Tulsa medical center, NBA Finals are here: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: 4 killed in shooting at Tulsa medical center
The suspected gunman is also dead. Plus, a gun control package will move through the House, economic opportunity reporter Charisse Jones checks in on LGBTQ inclusion in the workplace, reporter Chris Bumbaca looks at the history of the Spelling Bee bell and the NBA Finals are here.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 2nd of June 2022. Today, a shooting in Tulsa, plus LGBTQ inclusion in the workplace and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
Uvalde school district police chief Pete Arredondo said he has been in contact with authorities in recent days. He did an initial interview with the Texas Rangers. Though a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety said he had not responded for several days. Arredondo led the law enforcement response at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School last week, which is under investigation for how long it took for officers to confront a shooter who slaughtered 19 children.
A grand jury yesterday charged white 18 year old Payton Gendron with domestic terrorism, motivated by hate, and 10 counts of first-degree murder. He's accused of shooting and killing 10 black people at a Buffalo supermarket last month.
And Johnny Depp has won his defamation lawsuit against ex, Amber Heard. A jury awarded him more than $10 million after Depp filed the suit alleging Heard defamed him when she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse in an opinion column.
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Four people were killed, and more injured, yesterday, during a shooting at a medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The shooting is the latest high-profile shooting tragedy after one in Buffalo last month killed 10 and a shooting in Texas killed 21, including mostly children. In this latest incident, officers responded to a report of a man armed with a rifle at the St. Francis medical campus. Police say the shooter also died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Witness, Nicholas O'Brien.
Nicholas O'Brien:
They were rushing people out. I don't know if some of them were injured or just had been injured during the shooting. But some of them couldn't walk very well. But they were just wobbling and stumbling, getting them out of there. So at that point, it was around 5:10, 5:15, we came to the conclusion that there was probably an active shooter there.
Taylor Wilson:
Police have not released the name of the suspected shooter, but authorities found he had a rifle and handgun. It's not clear what led to the deadly assault. Police, at one point, also believed the suspect may have planted a bomb at his residence in Muskogee, Oklahoma. But an Oklahoma Highway Patrol Bomb Squad later cleared the home, finding no devices inside.
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A gun control package is expected to pass through the House today. It would include a proposal to raise the minimum age from 18 to 21 to buy a semi-automatic rifle. And it would also include efforts to limit the third-party sales of guns and to stop the distribution of untraceable firearms. The democratic-led move, though, is unlikely to pass the Senate, where Republicans can block major gun legislation. Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, previously said he does want GOP lawmakers to work with Democrats on gun measures related to the Uvalde massacre that left 19 children dead. But few expect McConnell to support raising the minimum age.
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As several states pass laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community, companies are creating policies and shifting culture to strengthen LGBTQ inclusion. 5 Things producer, PJ Elliott, spoke with Economic Opportunity Reporter, Charisse Jones, to find out more.
Charisse Jones:
Yeah, companies are making more of an effort to make sure that the LGBTQ community is part of its recruitment and promotion processes, just like members of any other underrepresented or marginalized group. It's also really important ... and more businesses are doing this as well ... to make sure that employees feel that they can be themselves in the workplace. And that means talking about your same sex partner and aspects of your private life that you might have felt you couldn't have done in a less tolerant environment. Allyship is really critical. And not just having a rainbow flag on your desk, though that makes a statement and has value, but disrupting bias. If somebody makes an inappropriate comment in a meeting, calling that out. Recommending a colleague for a promotion or promoting their ideas. So all of those things are ways that companies are making that effort. And finally, holding people accountable, tying compensation to meeting certain equity goals. And that's what a lot more businesses are doing as well. Because when that's a metric that you measure progress by, people, they adhere to it. They don't want you messing with their salary or their bonus. So that's really been important as well.
PJ Elliott:
So what benefits are companies seeing with a more diverse workplace?
Charisse Jones:
Well, it's really important, in terms of retention as well as recruitment. One advocate I spoke to says that the LGBTQ+ community is the canary in the coal mine, because they're an invisible minority. So when you treat members of that community equitably, treat them well, respect them, it sends a real clear message to other employees who are from more visible minority groups. So that's really critical.
One survey found that 24% of LGBTQ workers actually have considered moving to a new city that's more tolerant. So being able to hold onto people is really important. And then there's also a real bottom line component to it. There was a survey that found the top quarter of companies, in terms of ethnic diversity in their executive ranks, tended to be 36% more profitable, on average, than businesses that were in the bottom. So it shows that, in addition to being the right thing to do, it also makes a difference to your bottom line.
I guess the only other thing I would say is that, even though there is progress being made, we do have to recognize that there's a real backlash happening. A lot of anti-gay and anti-trans laws are happening in various parts of the country. 42% of LGBTQ workers say that they've experienced discrimination in the workplace. So while there is progress happening, people really do have to be proactive and vigilant, in terms of the backlash that is being experienced, and to keep moving forward.
Taylor Wilson:
For a link to Charisse's full story, click today's episode description.
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The finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee are tonight, outside Washington. If you tune in, you'll be sure to hear that famous spelling bee bell at times. And as USA TODAY Sports Chris Bumbaca tells us, that famous ding has some history behind it.
Chris Bumbaca:
So the bell is actually not what you want to hear if you're a contestant at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The bell means that you have spelled the word incorrectly and you're done, pretty much. So bell is bad news, when it comes to the spelling bee.
Of this specific bell, which belongs to Mary Brooks ... she's the head judge of the Bee and has been involved for 51 years in the competition, at one point serving as co-executive director. She is the head judge and she's the one who gets to press the bell, because the adjudication is ultimately up to her. So this bell, she found in the back of a Curio cabinet that belonged to her recently deceased mother-in-law. Now, this was 1998. So this specific bell has been in use since 1999 at the Bee, and has been at every Bee with the exception of 2014, when Brooks was not there.
Now, this bell looks pretty old-fashioned, nothing too special about it. Brown, bronze, rustic, makes a classic bell noise. Nothing much to it. But Brooks says that if you take a magnifying glass to the silver top on it, the part that she presses that makes that iconic noise, you could see four dates engraved in there, ranging from 1863 to 1874. There's no rhyme or reason to those dates, Brooks says, but you can see them almost clear as day with that magnifying glass. So it kind of proves that goes all the way back. We don't know where this bell came from or how it got to Brooks' mother-in-law's curio cabinet. Brooks' late husband believes that it came from the front desk of a hotel. But his mother never mentioned this bell and never mentioned it to her daughter-in-law who's ... part of her professional life involved ringing a bell. So she must have either forgotten her about it or not thought it was important. But now this bell is featured prominently for a week every year, at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Taylor Wilson:
You can tune into the Spelling Bee tonight at 8:00 PM Eastern on ION.
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The NBA finals are here. The series between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics tips off tonight with Game One in San Francisco. The Warriors are back in the finals for the sixth time in eight years, while the Celtics are in for the first time since 2010. The Celtics are coming off a long seven game series with the Miami Heat, while the Warriors are more rested after beating the Dallas Mavericks in five games. USA Today Sports Mackenzie Salmon and Charles Curtis give their predictions for the big series.
Charles Curtis:
All right, I'm going to give you two X factors.
Mackenzie Salmon:
Nice.
Charles Curtis:
Number one for Boston, Marcus Smart. And obviously it sounds like a Captain Obvious pick, but, to me, Marcus Smart, defending like he does on Steph Curry or Klay ... I'm guessing he'll be put on Curry. If he does that, Boston has a shot. If he doesn't, it's all over. And for the Warriors, it's Gary Payton II. It's Gary Payton II. Yeah, he's coming back from injury obviously. And that's going be huge for the Warriors, if he can play big minutes, because he has become a lockdown defender. Think that he can be a huge X factor in this series. And MVP, I mean, I hate to be boring, but it's going to be Steph Curry, right?
Mackenzie Salmon:
Yeah.
Charles Curtis:
Because we know the Warriors are going to win. It'll be like Martin Scorsese finally winning an Oscar for best director when he got it for The Departed. Because he made so many good movies before then and got nominated, like Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, and now he finally wins it. Well, it's the same for Steph Curry. Even if he has an uneven series, he's still going to win. And it's going to be Warriors in five.
Mackenzie Salmon:
Okay. All right. My finals prediction: so I 100% agree with you on the X factors. Great points you made there. For me, I think the Warriors will come out with the Dub in six. Steph Curry, MVP, like you said, is pretty much the only accolade he doesn't have at this point. After all the injuries, people counting him out, asking if they're going to be that dynasty again, I think they are going to add yet another chapter to this crazy legacy legendary era they have for this franchise. So, that's my pick.
Charles Curtis:
I like it. I like it. I don't think it's boring to pick the Warriors. I think, obviously, they're built for this.
Taylor Wilson:
Even with plenty of offensive firepower on the teams the series may be dictated by defense, with both teams finishing in the top two defensive rating during the regular season. You can tune in tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, on ABC.
And you can find 5 Things every morning right here, wherever you're listening, right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show. And I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 4 killed in Tulsa shooting, NBA Finals begin tonight: 5 Things podcast
