And thoughts and prayers from all over the country are going out this morning to the suburbs of Oklahoma City, where an EF-4 tornado demolished neighborhoods and led to the deaths of some 91 people including at least 20 children.  The tornado brutalized the small community of Moore, Oklahoma and destroyed two elementary schools.

It’s that special time of year for students and their families – graduation time!  Both Darlington School and Rome High School held their graduation ceremonies this past weekend, with all the schools in the Floyd County Schools to hold theirs this weekend.

The 2013 SPLOST Committee is scheduled to meet this Thursday, May 23^rd.  The meeting will be held at 5:30 pm in the Training Room at the Emergency Operations Center at 409 East 12^th Street in Rome and is open to the public.  The purpose of the meeting is to review applications for potential 2013 SPLOST projects that have been submitted by the public.

A Rome man has won the big bucks in the Georgia Lottery.  Sam Adkins, age 56, won a $129,124 jackpot prize playing Fantasy 5 by matching all five winning numbers in the April 30^th drawing, according to a Georgia Lottery media release.

Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s Associate Degree Nursing program has been granted continued accreditation by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC).  Accreditation will continue until the next visit scheduled for fall 2015, according to a GNTC media release.

The Greater Rome area got a bit of a break from the rain yesterday, but there are still flood warnings for a couple of areas in Floyd County.  One is for the Armuchee Creek near Armuchee.  It remains in effect until further notice.  As of 4 am this morning, the creek was at 19.8 feet and falling; flood stage is 19 feet.  A flood warning is also in effect until further notice for the Coosa River near Rome Mayo Bar Lock and Dam.  At 4 am, the stage was at 25.5 feet and slowly rising.  Flood stage is 24 feet.

The Rome Braves blanked the Augusta Greenjackets 6-0 last night in the opener of a three game series at State Mutual Stadium.  Here’s a brief post game wrap up from Rome Braves radio voice Ben Poplin.

The Atlanta Braves beat the Minnesota Twins 5-1 in the opener of  an interleague series at Turner Field last night.