9 To Know: April 18, 2023

Here are the nine stories you need to know from both Oklahoma and around the world.

9 - Classes will be virtual today for students at Wheeler Middle School. This comes after the school evacuated due to a gas leak yesterday.

8 - Fire crews are still working to figure out what caused a three-alarm fire that destroyed a metro church. The No Limits Church was reduced to charred rubble Monday morning.

7 - A Wall Street Journal reporter jailed in Russia appealed his detention before a Moscow Court this morning. Evan Gershkovich is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia for alleged spying.

6 - An Oklahoma Senate bill that would have mandated law enforcement report a missing child to OSBI and OHP within six hours of their disappearance, stalls in the House. Okemah Republican Roger Thompson authored the bill. He blamed politics for the bill's stagnation.

5 - Firefighters are keeping an eye on hotspots in Logan county as fire danger ramps back up today.

Homeowners along Westminster Road evacuated Monday afternoon as a fire burned toward several homes. A burn ban remains in effect.

4 - A major defamation lawsuit against Fox News is set to go to trial today. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems claims Fox personalities knew allegations made against the voting machine company were false but continued spreading the claims anyway. Fox says they were reporting newsworthy allegations. 

3 - The Trial begins for a Guthrie boss accused of murdering his employee and burying his body under a septic tank. Daniel Triplett is accused of killing 50-year-old Brent Mack. The case had gone cold before prosecutors say video surfaced showing the moments leading up to the killing.

2 - Putnam City Schools has closed Capps Middle School today due to a social media threat. The district says the decision was made by law enforcement out of an abundance of caution. All other Putnam City Schools remain open.

1 - McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy is responding for the first time to an audio recording released by the publisher of a Southeast Oklahoma newspaper. The sheriff along with members of his staff and a county commissioner are heard making racist comments -- and alluding to beating, killing an burying two journalists. The sheriff says the audio was obtained illegally and altered in some way.