National: At least 17 people died yesterday in tornadoes and violent storms that struck the South and Midwest. One tornado was said to have been on the ground for 80 miles.

Extensive damage was reported in several towns north of Little Rock. Hardest hit may have been the town of Vilonia, which lost a $14 million school that was to open next fall. Sixteen deaths were reported in Arkansas and one in Quapaw, Okla. about 100 miles northeast of Tulsa. The tornado watch continues today in in a swatch that goes from East Texas through Louisiana and up through Mississippi to Illinois and Indiana.

Ukraine: The US today placed travel bans on seven Russian officials and froze the assets of 17 companies in an effort to ratchet up the pressure on the Russian regime. “These sanctions represent the next stage in a calibrated effort to change Russia’s behavior,” President Obama said while travelling in the Philippines.

The sanctions include a ban on the export of unnamed technology items used by the Russian defense department. Sanctions do not directly target Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US and Europe appear to be divided on the severity of sanctions to be leveled on Russia after it ignored a recent agreement to defuse the Ukraine crisis and pull pro-Russian occupiers from Eastern Ukrainian government buildings. Anti-government militias last week even took prisoner an eight-man European observation team that was supposed to verify execution of the agreement.

European countries could have more to lose in trade sanctions against Russia, making it difficult for the US to get tough. President Obama said he’s trying to stay in unison with Europe. “We’re going to be in a stronger position to deter Mr. Putin when he sees that the world is unified,” Obama said.

Collective Punishment: An Egyptian court handed the death sentence to 680 people, including the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, after a mass trial on charges of inciting or committing acts of violence that led to the assault on a police station and killing of an officer. The trial lasted only minutes.

This is the second occurrence of a mass death sentence in recent months. Another court held a similar trial resulting in the death sentence for 529 people.

The Ball Bounces: The Los Angeles Clippers took to the court before yesterday’s game wearing their warm-ups inside out to hide the team name in protest against racist remarks attributed to their owner, Donald T. Sterling. They went on to play Golden State wearing black socks and black armbands.

On an audiotape released by the gossip website TMZ, a man believed to be Sterling argues with his girlfriend and objects to her taking a picture with Laker great Magic Johnson. The man tells her not to be seen with black people and in reference to Johnson says, “Don’t put him on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”

That’s not all the man said, but Sterling’s people released a denial that the tape represents what he really thinks. They didn’t say it wasn’t him. The billionaire Sterling is banned from his own team’s games while the NBA investigates.

It’s all a big mess. Sterling’s wife of 50 years recently sued her husband’s reputed girlfriend, V. Stiviano, because she had accepted millions of dollars in gifts and money that the wife says is joint property.

The comedian John Oliver said what’s amazing about all this is that an 81-year-old man knows what Instagram is.

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