Local & Regional

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officers are working to learn the circumstances under which a bald eagle died.

Officials said Friday the dead eagle was found at a motel in Sallisaw.

Fort Smith television station KHBS reports that investigators say the raptor's talons and tail feathers had been removed. Feathers from the eagle's wings were also gone.

A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered for information leading to a conviction in the death and mutilation of the eagle.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Governor Mary Fallin is proposing a last-minute legislative change to the state's Insure Oklahoma program that would direct $50 million in state tobacco taxes to pay for more than 9,000 Oklahomans who are expected to lose their health insurance under the program.

Fallin released a statement Friday urging lawmakers to redirect the $50 million so the Insure Oklahoma could continue to operate as a "smaller, more targeted program run with state dollars only."

A project long in the making comes into being. The Shoppes on Peoria, north of the Gateway Market at Pine and North Peoria, will have a grand opening Saturday.

Six businesses have opened there this year with more to come. One of them is the Tropical Smoothie Café.

Tim Smallwood is the owner of the café, his second in Tulsa. The first location is in South Tulsa, at the Tulsa Hills shopping center.

The North Tulsa store is only about two months old. He says part of the motivation for selecting the new location was his memory of growing up in the area.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has denied clemency for a death row inmate scheduled to be executed next month.

The five-member board voted 3-2 Friday against commuting the death sentence of James Lewis DeRosa. He faces a June 18 execution for the stabbing deaths of 73-year-old Curtis Plummer and 70-year-old Gloria Plummer in 2000.

During the hearing, DeRosa expressed remorse for the LeFlore County couple's death and took responsibility for the killings.

Four members of the Plummers' family urged the board to deny clemency.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Convicted criminals who maintain their innocence would have a way to seek DNA testing in their cases under a bill that is nearing final passage in the Legislature. The bill's passage would eliminate Oklahoma's dubious distinction as the only state in the nation without such a program.

The Oklahoma House voted unanimously on Thursday for the Postconviction DNA Act, which allows those convicted of violent felonies or who have been sentenced to 25 years or more in prison to file a motion in court to request forensic DNA testing in their case.