WASHINGTON (AP) ? President-elect Barack Obama plunged into rare pre-inaugural crisis talks with congressional leaders Monday, declaring the national economy was "bad and getting worse" and embracing tax cuts now expected to reach $300 billion. He predicted lawmakers would approve a mammoth revitalization package within two weeks of his taking office.

If the two-year plan is enacted, workers would see larger paychecks almost immediately because taxes withheld by the government would drop. The break would be retroactive to Jan. 1, and couples receiving a $1,000 tax cut would begin receiving an extra $40 in twice-monthly paychecks as the government tries to spark more consumer spending.
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FAIRVIEW (AP) ? Jury selection is under way in the trial of a former Custer County sheriff accused of sexually abusing female inmates and drug court participants.

Jury selection began Monday for former Sheriff Mike Burgess, who has pleaded not guilty to 36 charges of rape, rape by instrumentation, kidnapping, sexual battery and oral sodomy. Testimony could begin as early as Tuesday.

In August, a judge bound Burgess over for trial after several female drug court defendants testified Burgess threatened to send them to prison if they didn't comply with his sexual demands.

Burgess was a member of a drug court panel that decides which offenders are allowed in the rehabilitation program and which offenders go to prison.
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BARTLESVILLE, Okla. (AP) ? A man was arrested after allegedly threatening to kill employees of a tag agency while he attempted to obtain a new driver's license. Harold Groves, a 61-year-old Bartlesville resident, was accused of telling the employees he would blow their heads off. The incident was reported Friday and he was arrested Saturday. He told police the tag agency workers refused to take his birth certificate as he tried to provide identification to get a new license. His old driver's license had expired.
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Police say the victim of a weekend drive by shooting was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

A fire destroyed a Broken Arrow foster mom's home. That's when an area homebuilder, with the help of many others, stepped in to make a difference.

A candidate for the Tahlequah Police Department Chief of Police, Steve Hamby, is getting a lot of online attention because of old videos of him posted on YouTube.

New Commissioner Karen Keith is on the job, promising to put a priority on the county's juvenile justice system.

A Washington County man is accused of threatening to kill everyone at a Bartlesville tag agency.