Arkansas bank is shut down by regulators
Federal regulators closed a bank in Bentonville, Arkansas for “unsafe and unsound” business practices.
ANB Financial National Association, with $2.1 billion in assets and $1.8 billion in total deposits, was closed after regulators discovered lax lending standards, particularly for construction and development projects in the western U.S.
Pulaski Bank and Trust Company has agreed to take over control of the failed bank and began so today.
ANB was the third closure this year for an FDIC insured bank. The other two were in Missouri - one in January and one in March.
Deadly tornado destroys Picher, Oklahoma and tears through southwest Missouri
A deadly tornado outbreak killed at least 21 people in Oklahoma and Missouri. The tornadoes destroyed 300 homes and businesses while injuring as many as 180 people according to insurance officials, who said the tornado was on the ground for about 60 miles. Nearly half of those killed were inside vehicles when the tornado struck.
The National Weather Service has assessed the tornado that hit Picher, Oklahoma was an EF-4.
The rating is the second highest and weather service assessment teams say it was 1 mile wide at its widest point with wind speeds of 165 to 175 miles per hour.
Damage from the tornado extends for 74 miles with 29 miles in Oklahoma and 45 in Missouri.
Debris from the storm fell on towns as far away as Aurora, Missouri and people in Greene County, Missouri reported papers from Oklahoma ending up in yards.
Crews continue to search wreckage and fields for survivors or other fatalities.
EPA to examine air quality after Picher tornado
The Environmental Protection Agency will be checking for elevated lead levels after the Picher tornado. Picher is so polluted with lead-contaminated mining waste that it is a federal Superfund site.
“You can look at the chat piles and see that a lot of the material has blown off,” said John Sparkman, head of the Picher housing authority. “We went up on a chat pile an hour and a half after the tornado hit, and you could see dust blowing fine material all over the place from that vantage point.”
