Damaging tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma on Sunday and Monday, causing widespread damage that is still being assessed, and additional severe weather is expected.

Seventh grader Charlie Cross sometimes gets frustrated with learning.

“If I don’t know what to do, I’ll raise my hand and they’ll go to other kids and then my hand will get tired so I’ll put it down and I just lay my head down on the desk,” he says.

Cross has been sent to the principal’s office for things like this before. He's also been sent to the district’s alternative school.

He’s not alone.

The state Executive Branch Ethics Commission has handed down public reprimands and fines to three former employees in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

The panel took the action on Monday against Bruce Harper of Harrodsburg, Chris Parsons of Mount Vernon and George "Doug" Begley of London.

Harper agreed to pay a $4,500 fine for soliciting donations from businesses his agency regulated and for attempting to interfere with enforcement actions in cases involving grain storage and disposal of dead animals.

The hearing date has been scheduled for the removal trial of embattled Louisville Metro Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin, but not without her attorney Aubrey Williams’ claiming the process by which Shanklin is being tried is illegal.

The Council Court met Monday for the first time as a court since late councilwoman Judy Green’s removal trial in 2011. 

Louisville’s Ethics Commission found Shanklin guilty of violating several provisions of the city’s ethics code earlier this year.

No "La Traviata." No "Don Giovanni." Absolutely no "La Bohème." You won't find the usual suspects from the classical repertoire in Thompson Street Opera Company's season. The young company is more interested in exploring new works by living composers, like Marcus Maroney's morality play "Dust of the Road," a one-act opera that opens Friday at Central Presbyterian Church. 

(This post was last updated at 11:45 p.m. ET.)

A massive tornado ripped through the southern suburbs of Oklahoma City, Monday afternoon, killing at least 51 people, according to the state medical examiner's office.

The death toll was expected to rise.

Helicopter images showed large tracts of Moore, Okla., completely leveled by what the National Weather Service says was at least an EF-4 tornado with winds in excess of 166 mph. The tornado stayed on the ground for 40 minutes and traveled 20 miles.

In his second Louisville appearance this week, the Dalai Lama emphasized the importance of religious tolerance and learning to an estimated crowd of 7,000.

The Tibetan spiritual leader's discussion Monday at the KFC Yum Center centered around the Buddhist faith and the path to happiness and enlightenment.

Presenting the Louisville Metro Council and residents with his third budget, Mayor Greg Fischer unveiled a new spending plan which includes additional funding for the city’s roads and infrastructure.

The 2013-14 budget avoids any tax increases, employee layoffs or service cuts due in large part to higher than anticipated revenue and curbs to spending.

Metro Government has a $528 million general fund and has seen significant budget shortfalls in recent years.

In the coming fiscal year officials expect a $3.3 million surplus due to the city's occupational tax rising by about 3 percent, a 2.5 percent increase in the insurance premium tax and business profit taxes are expected to increase by 6 percent. The Fischer administration was also able to cut expenditures by not replacing retiring employees, reducing overtime pay by $1.5 million and lowering the structural imbalance by $15 million.

But one of the chief items the mayor's office is bragging about is putting $6.4 million towards paving roads and creating biking lanes. The city has spent on average $2.5 annually on infrastructure since city-county merger, which is well below the needed $8 to 10 million council members request and others argue the Public Works department requires.

Fischer says the city still has a financial imbalance and pension obligations, adding officials will have to watch every dollar. But the mayor believes an improved economy has allowed for his administration to make needed infrastructure improvements.

"There's been a little bit of relief and we have good control on our expenses with cost reductions as well. And that's going to allow us to make some investments that we haven't been able to make in the last couple of years, in particular with some road improvements and more bike lanes," he says.

The Internal Revenue Service is under fire for improperly singling out some conservative groups for extra scrutiny — putting them through months (or longer) of questions that delayed or derailed the organizations' requests for tax-exempt status.

Well, now the chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee have some questions and requests — actually dozens of them — for the IRS.

Sometimes beautiful theatre happens in unlikely spaces. When Tim Faulkner Gallery moved from East Market Street to Butchertown last spring, the new digs gave the gallery room to breathe. A whole building on the intimate, tree-lined Franklin Street showcases not only to the many artists Faulkner represents, but also the art parties the gallery has become known for. Tim Faulkner Building also houses studios rented to artists, Matt Anthony's Record Shop, a used bookstore and other small enterprises.