By Lisa Mascaro and Anthony Izaguirre

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Facing mounting public pressure and a crush of state lawsuits, President Donald Trump’s new postmaster general announced Tuesday he is halting some operational changes to mail delivery that critics blamed for

widespread delays and warned could disrupt the November election.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he would “suspend” several of his initiatives — in-cluding the removal of the dis-tinctive blue mail boxes that prompted an outcry — until af-ter the election “to avoid even the appearance of impact on election mail.”

“We will deliver the nation’s election mail on time,” DeJoy said in a statement.

The abrupt reversal from De-Joy, who is set to testify Friday

before the Senate, comes as more than 20 states, from New York to California, announced they would be suing to stop the changes. Several vowed they would press on, keeping a watchful eye on the Postal Ser-vice ahead of the election.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing ahead with Satur-day’s vote to prevent election-year mail changes and provide emergency postal funds.

“I don’t, frankly, trust the postmaster general,” Pelosi said in San Francisco.

The crisis at the Postal

Service has erupted as a major election-year issue as DeJoy, a Republican donor who took control of the agency in June, has swiftly engineered cuts and operational changes that are disrupting mail delivery operations and raising alarms that Trump is trying to under-mine the agency ahead of the election.

At the White House, Trump has flatly denied he is seeking to slow-walk the mail, even as he leveled fresh assaults Tues-

Postal Service halts some changes amid outcryPostmaster general to delay operational changes until after election

By Harrison GrimwoodTulsa World

I t came down to one vote in 1920 that brought the 19th amend-ment, granting women’s suffrage nationally, to fruition.

A coalition of voting rights groups gathered Tuesday at the Tulsa Histori-cal Society, wearing clothes period-spe-cific to the later era of the suffragettes.

Sharon King Davis, who portrayed women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, said that not long ago women voting was considered a “radical no-tion.”

“We vote today because of one vote,” Davis said. “And not only are we able to vote and celebrate that today, but we’re

also able to run for office as women, which was absolutely unheard of dur-ing that time.”

During the Tuesday celebration, peo-ple donned yellow roses. The yellow rose has been a long-standing symbol used to signify support for suffrage, the right to vote.

Oklahoma was the 21st state, and the first Southern state, to adopt full suffrage for women. Despite an elec-tion rigged against them and despite an influenza epidemic — which bears a striking resemblance to contemporary

By Sheila StogsdillFor the Tulsa World

PICHER — Investigators failed to find anything when they excavated an abandoned root cellar and two adjacent storm shelters on Tuesday, de-spite having been pointed to the location as the spot where two missing teenagers’ remains could be found.

Ronnie Busick, 68, pleaded guilty last month to a reduced charge of accessory to murder in the Dec. 30, 1999, deaths of

Danny and Kathy Freeman, their daughter, Ashley Freeman, and her friend Lauria Bible. Both girls were 16.

After confirming certain de-tails and providing information on pertinent landmarks, Busick told investigators he was 75% sure they would find the girls’ remains in the root cellar.

Law enforcement officers from the Oklahoma State Bu-reau of Investigation, Craig and Ottawa counties, the Craig County District Attorney’s Of-fice and the Bureau of Indian Affairs spent almost four hours at the site of a former residence at 617 S. Ethel St. in Picher.

Search uncovers no remains

Voting rights advocates wear period dress Tuesday during a news conference in Tulsa to celebrate ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World

19th amendment • Groups mark 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote

Investigators had hoped to find the remains of the missing Welch girls

Celebrating the vote

By Kevin CanfieldTulsa World

Less than three months after committing to work with commu-nity members and the City Council to implement a police oversight model similar to the one in Den-ver, Mayor G.T. Bynum said this week that he’s been forced to aban-don that plan and explore other options.

Bynum said he tried to follow through with his pledge but was thwarted when activists and City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper re-fused to include the Fraternal Or-der of Police in the discussions.

“At our follow-up meeting … ac-tivists and Councilor Hall-Harper refused to even sit down and have a discussion with the Fraternal Or-der of Police,” Bynum said in an email. “The purpose of the meeting was to work through those items that need to go through ordinance and those that need to go through collective bargaining.”

Bynum said the City Council can act on the OIM ordinance at any time but that he has no control over how it proceeds.

“But without Councilor Hall-Harper’s support we do not have the votes to pass it in the Council,” Bynum said. “So, given the recur-ring roadblock there, I am back to considering other strategies that can be pursued independent of Council action.”

Hall-Harper said it was not fair or accurate of the mayor to place all of the onus on her and her fel-low councilors.

“If he is serious, first of all, about having an OIM, he can do that right now,” she said. “He can also move ahead with addressing those issues that must be addressed in the collective bargaining process.”

Bynum could establish a police oversight office himself and even-tually roll it into a fully funded department, Hall-Harper said. He also could include a representative from the City Council in contract negotiations with the FOP to en-sure transparency, she said.

“If he wanted a more engag-ing process, I think he can make it a more engaging process,” Hall-Harper said.

Mayoral candidate Greg Robin-son was one of the activists who stood by Bynum’s side in early

Bynum backs off OIM modelMayor says City Council can act on OIM, but he will have no control over how it proceeds

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homecoming. SPORTS // B1

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Voting resources••Voter registration and polling informa-

tion at the Oklahoma State Election Board, bit.ly/okregistertovote.••Rides to and from polling sites, notary

services available through the Tulsa Voter Van, tulsavotervan.com.••Tulsa County Election Board provides

information on past and upcoming elec-tions and information on voter registra-tion, bit.ly/tulsacoelections.

» See Vote, page A3

Angela Berg with the state Medical Examiner’s Office walks through dirt excavated in Picher during a search for the remains of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman on Tuesday.  MIKE SIMoNS/Tulsa World » See Search, page A3

» See Bynum, page A4

» See USPS, page A4