News Brief: 263 years in prison, Thunder players and unfit presidential candidates

Headlines from Jan. 18-22:

• Former Oklahoma City police officer sentenced to 263 years in prison (NewsOK)

After a six-week trial, former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Ken Holtzclaw, 29, was convicted on Dec. 10 of 18 of 36 on-duty rapes between December 2013 and June 2014. Holtzclaw was sentenced to 263 years in prison on Thursday.

• Durant/Westbrook to Start All-Star Game (KFOR)

The 68th NBA All-Star Game players have been named, and the Thunder is the only team with two players named starters. Forward Kevin Durant and guard Russell Westbrook will both start for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game on Feb. 14 in Toronto. Durant earned almost a million votes, which was third in the voting, and is slated to make his seventh all-star appearance and fifth start. Russell Westbrook picked up more than 772,000 votes, which was fifth most in the voting process.

• Record lottery jackpot means bigger payout for schools (Journal Record)

The budget cuts affecting Oklahoma schools unexpectedly culminates with the record payout for $1.6 billion for three Powerball lottery winners. A slice of money spent by people trying to win a similar lottery jackpot will go to schools in Oklahoma, according to the Journal Record.

• Voters Skeptical That 2016 Candidates Would Make Good Presidents (Pew Research Center)

A new Pew Research Center report indicates that voters are skeptical of the leadership qualities of the 2016 presidential candidates. Of nine candidates included in the survey, more voters said each would make a “terrible” than “great” president. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted among 2,009 adults, including 1,525 registered voters, finds that 35 percent of voters say that Hillary Clinton would make either a good or great president, with 11 percent saying she would be great. Roughly half – 52 percent – think Trump would make a poor or terrible president, with 38 percent saying he would be terrible. And 31 percent of those surveyed had not heard of presidential candidate John Kasich.

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