Okla. residents come home to pick up the pieces

A man carries a drawer and a bag filled with clothes from Rachel Hernandez' home as residents of the Heatherwood Addition, on the south side of SE 4 and Bryant in Moore, Okla., returned to their homes Tuesday, May 21, 2013, to salvage any items after Monday's destructive tornado. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Jim Beckel)

MOORE, Okla. - With her son holding her elbow, Colleen Arvin walked up her driveway to what was left of her house for 40 years.

It was the 83-year-old grandmother's first time back at her home since a monstrous and deadly tornado ravaged her neighborhood in suburban Oklahoma City. Part of the roof was sitting in the front yard, and the siding from the front of the house was gone. As her son, Jeff, and her grandsons picked through what was left of her belongings, Arvin found some dark humor in the situation.

"Oh thank God," she said, laughing, when a grandson brought over her keys. "We can get in the house."

Monday's tornado killed at least 24 people, destroyed countless homes and reduced one elementary school almost entirely to rubble, killing seven children inside.

As state and federal officials work to set up disaster recovery centers to provide aid and assistance, Arvin and other residents of Moore are beginning the deliberate process of assessing what's left of their homes and possessions and what comes next.

Officials are still trying to make sense of what will be needed in the coming days, weeks and months: Will homes be rebuilt or torn down? Where will the children go to school? How much will it all cost?   

The long history of Detroit watch making has just begun introducing Shinola

DETROIT, MI - Why open a watch factory in Detroit? Why not accept that manufacturing is gone from this country? Why not let the rust and weeds finish what they started? And lastly, why didn't we buy a heavier coat before we moved here?

Through two Detroit winters, we've asked ourselves these questions. And worked not to find our answer, but to build it. Because American manufacturing never failed for being too good. It happened when we thought good was good enough. 

As the dynamics of the urban community change, is the civil rights movement even relevant?


DETROIT (Tell Us USA) - Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Flint, Michigan, Camden, New Jersey and cities like these continue to experience poor city services, high unemployment, dilapidated housing, out of control crime rates and unacceptable educational systems. Even after decades of attempts by police chiefs, block clubs, city councils, mayors and governors alike, the statistics for these problems still place this growing list of communities at the top of worst cities to live in, in America.  

Newtown mom pleads for gun control at White House

Families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., meet with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., after he announced a bipartisan deal on expanding background checks Wednesday, April 10, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON - The mother of a 6-year-old boy killed in the Connecticut school shooting used the opportunity to fill in for President Barack Obama during the weekly radio and Internet address to make a personal plea from the White House for action to combat gun violence.