With tornadoes hitting the Midwest and the South, some survivors say that they emerged from their homes to find buildings ripped apart, vehicles tossed around like toys, shattered glass and felled trees. Residents in towns in northeastern Arkansas and Belvidere, Illinois are recounting the damages this weekend from storms that dropped dozens of tornadoes. In Belvidere, the last time the town was devastated to this extent from a tornado was in 1967. They survived, and — like so many others in several states — emerged to see devastation outside.

A new gun law has already prevented some potentially dangerous people from owning guns. But since that law was signed by President Joe Biden last summer, the number of mass shootings in the United States has only grown. Just this past week, three 9-year-olds and three adults were shot and killed at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. The persistence of mass shootings in the United States highlights the limits of congressional action. The law didn't address many Democratic priorities for gun control, including universal background checks or the ban on so-called assault weapons that Biden has called for. For now, Congress appears to have returned to a familiar impasse.

Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 21 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest. The tore a path through the Arkansas capital and collapsed the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois. People throughout the region were stunned with the damage’s scope. Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and lay waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included seven in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, four in Illinois, and three in nearby Sullivan, Indiana. Other deaths were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas.

Official confirms 7 deaths in Tennessee, bringing toll of people killed from storms and tornadoes in US to at least 18.

The military says the service members who died in a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crash ranged in age from 23 to 36 and were from seven states. A military news release Friday says the service members came from Florida, Texas, Missouri, California, North Carolina, Alabama and New Jersey. Two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed near Fort Campbell on Wednesday night during a medical evacuation training exercise, killing all nine soldiers aboard the two aircrafts. The crash occurred in Trigg County, Kentucky, about 30 miles northwest of the Army post that is home to the 101st Airborne Division.

A monster storm system has torn through the South and Midwest, spawning deadly weather including tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, collapsed a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois and made a fatal sweep into rural Indiana. At least one person was killed and more than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area during Friday’s storm. The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas also was devastated and officials reported two dead there, along with destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris. Authorities say a theater roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing one person and injuring 28. The emergency management director of Sullivan County, Indiana, says the storm has caused three fatalities there.

Family and friends of Evelyn Dieckhaus, one of three children who were killed in a school shooting in Nashville this week, remembered her as a “shining light” and said farewell to a girl who loved art, music, animals and snuggling with her older sister. The funeral Friday at the Woodmont Christian Church in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood was closed to the media, but before the service, the church’s senior minister, the Rev. Clay Stauffer, said of Evelyn that, “She was a shining light. She was radiant." Many women and girls wore pink in honor of Evelyn's love of color. She was one of six people, including three children, who were killed in Monday's attack.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed a law allowing private schools to contract with law enforcement so they can hire school resource officers. Friday's signing is just days after a Nashville shooting at a private Christian school that left six dead, including three children. The Republican governor quietly approved the law without issuing a statement. A spokesperson for Lee did not immediately return a request seeking comment. The law goes into effect immediately. Supporters said the bill was needed to clarify statutes that had kept private schools from working with local governments to hire school resource officers.

The military says service members who died in a US Army Black Hawk helicopter crash ranged in age from 23 to 36.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating an airplane crash in north Mississippi that left one person dead and another injured. The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office said, in a news release, that it was notified about 9 p.m. Thursday that a small private plane had not returned to the airport it had taken off from. A cellphone belonging to one of the plane’s occupants was pinging off County Road 249 near Oxford. When deputies arrived to the area, they found the plane’s wreckage and one of the occupants dead. The second occupant, initially reported as missing, was later found and taken to an area hospital with injuries.

Two Memphis police officers and a suspect have been wounded in a shooting. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says the shooting happened during a foot chase after officers responded to a report of a person with a gun at a convenience store shortly before 7:30 p.m. Thursday. A Twitter post by the Memphis Police Department says the officers and the suspect were in critical condition following the shooting in the Whitehaven neighborhood. The bureau on Friday identified the suspect as 47-year-old Charles Williams II and said he has been charged with attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault.

Social media users shared a range of false claims this week about the fatal shooting of six people at a Christian school in Nashville. Here are the facts: A photo of a trans woman holding a gun was misrepresented to incorrectly claim she was calling for violence against Christians. Photos of two unrelated people were falsely identified as images of the Nashville shooter. Another photo of a protester in Oklahoma holding a sign with guns on it was misrepresented as the Nashville shooter. A Nashville television station did not tweet that the father of one of the victims made an anti-trans statement.

Authorities say a man who had just bonded out of jail shot three people, killing one, at a body shop in Tennessee before law enforcement officers arrived and shot him. Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton told news outlets a female called police Thursday afternoon to report she had been shot at Midtown Auto Body in Harriman. Authorities say another woman and a man were shot before police arrived and one person died. Officers from several agencies responded and a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper found the suspect nearby. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says the suspect “turned toward the trooper in an aggressive fashion as he raised his gun” and the trooper fired, wounding him.

Funeral services are set for the six people killed in this week’s school shooting in Nashville, as the grieving city mourns the victims of the horrific attack on what should have been a normal day of school. Police said three adults and three 9-year-old students were killed during the shooting Monday at The Covenant School. The children have been identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. Also killed were Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school; Mike Hill, 61, a custodian; and Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher. Funeral arrangements have now been disclosed for all the victims except Peak.