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Tag: Oklahoma

  • Monarch butterflies survive arctic blast in Mexico

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    Monarch butterflies wintering in the mountains of western Mexico have survived January’s arctic blast, according to scientists studying the impact of the cold air on their overwintering sites.”There was a lot of concern that the arctic blast would reach all the way down to their overwintering sites. But it appears that it did not,” said Emily Geest from the Oklahoma City Zoo.Despite the close brush with the arctic intrusion, Geest noted that monarchs are surprisingly resilient to cold, emphasizing the importance of moisture.”They can tolerate temperatures as low as 18 degrees Fahrenheit, even though freezing occurs near 32 degrees. They can tolerate so long as they don’t have moisture on their bodies,” she said.In previous years, such as 2002 and 2016, the reserve saw a combination of cold and moisture, leading to significant declines in monarch numbers that took years to recover.However, reports from Mexico suggest that it’s been a positive overwintering year.”Some of the reports coming out of Mexico suggest that it’s been a really good overwintering year. The population is as big as it’s ever been, but we’ll have to see what happens,” Geest said.Monarchs are expected to begin their migration back north in a few weeks, arriving in Oklahoma by early April.Excitingly, monarchs tagged in Oklahoma last fall have been found at the overwintering sites.”We just found out a few days ago that at least two of them were found again in the overwintering sites – so we’re really excited to see what happens with these monarchs,” Geest said.However, the lingering drought in Oklahoma poses a potential concern for the butterflies upon their return, as rainfall is crucial for their food source.”They need plants – they need flowers and nectar. And if we persist into a drought, things may stay dry. There may not be enough nectar for them,” Geest said.

    Monarch butterflies wintering in the mountains of western Mexico have survived January’s arctic blast, according to scientists studying the impact of the cold air on their overwintering sites.

    “There was a lot of concern that the arctic blast would reach all the way down to their overwintering sites. But it appears that it did not,” said Emily Geest from the Oklahoma City Zoo.

    Despite the close brush with the arctic intrusion, Geest noted that monarchs are surprisingly resilient to cold, emphasizing the importance of moisture.

    “They can tolerate temperatures as low as 18 degrees Fahrenheit, even though freezing occurs near 32 degrees. They can tolerate so long as they don’t have moisture on their bodies,” she said.

    In previous years, such as 2002 and 2016, the reserve saw a combination of cold and moisture, leading to significant declines in monarch numbers that took years to recover.

    However, reports from Mexico suggest that it’s been a positive overwintering year.

    “Some of the reports coming out of Mexico suggest that it’s been a really good overwintering year. The population is as big as it’s ever been, but we’ll have to see what happens,” Geest said.

    Monarchs are expected to begin their migration back north in a few weeks, arriving in Oklahoma by early April.

    Excitingly, monarchs tagged in Oklahoma last fall have been found at the overwintering sites.

    “We just found out a few days ago that at least two of them were found again in the overwintering sites – so we’re really excited to see what happens with these monarchs,” Geest said.

    However, the lingering drought in Oklahoma poses a potential concern for the butterflies upon their return, as rainfall is crucial for their food source.

    “They need plants – they need flowers and nectar. And if we persist into a drought, things may stay dry. There may not be enough nectar for them,” Geest said.

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  • Indian Health Service to Phase Out Use of Dental Fillings Containing Mercury by 2027

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    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The federal agency that provides health care to Native Americans and Alaska Natives has announced it will phase out the use of dental fillings containing mercury.

    The Indian Health Service has used fillings, known as dental amalgams, that contain elemental mercury to treat decayed and otherwise damaged teeth for decades. Native American rights and industry advocates have called for an end to the practice, arguing it exposes patients who may not have access to private dentistry to a harmful neurotoxin.

    The use of mercury-containing amalgams, also known as “silver fillings” due to their appearance, has declined sharply since 2009 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reclassified the devices from low to moderate risk. The industry has largely abandoned them in favor of plastic resin alternatives, which are also preferred for aesthetic reasons.

    The Indian Health Service says it will fully implement the move to mercury-free alternatives by 2027. Already, the percentage of the Indian Health Service’s roughly 2.8 million patient user population receiving them has declined from 12% in 2005 to 2% in 2023, the latest year of available data, agency documents show.

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees IHS, said growing environmental and health concerns about mercury exposure, and global efforts to reduce materials containing the hazardous heavy metal prompted the change announced this month.

    “This is a commonsense step that protects patients and prevents harm before it starts,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said in a statement.

    The agency’s switch to mercury-free alternatives also upholds legal responsibilities the U.S. government has to the 575 federally recognized tribes, he said.

    According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, dental amalgam fillings can release small amounts of mercury vapor during placement, removal, teeth grinding and gum chewing. It recommends that certain people at high risk for adverse effects of mercury exposure, including pregnant women, children under 6, and those with existing neurological conditions avoid the fillings. But the administration, along with the American Dental Association, says available evidence does not link mercury-containing fillings to long-term negative health outcomes.

    The World Health Organization has created a plan to encourage countries around the world to phase out the use of dental amalgams, citing potential for mercury exposure. In 2013 several countries, including the U.S., signed onto the Minamata Convention, a global agreement targeting the adverse health and the environment effects of mercury. In November, signatories to the convention agreed to phase out the use of mercury-containing dental amalgams by the year 2034.

    While Kennedy’s decision to stop its use within the IHS by 2027 puts the U.S. ahead of the global schedule, the country is still behind many other developed nations that have already banned the practice.

    “The rest of the world is light years ahead of us,” said Rochelle Diver, the U.N. environmental treaties coordinator for the International Indian Treaty Council, adding that IHS patients should not receive treatment that is considered antiquated by many dentists.

    In a statement, the American Dental Association acknowledged declining use of mercury-containing fillings, but said they remain a “safe, durable and affordable material.”

    The use of mercury in other medical devices, including thermometers and blood pressure devices, has also declined sharply in recent decades. While mercury-containing amalgams have fallen out of favor in the U.S. private dental sector, patients relying on government services may not have a say, according to Charles G. Brown, president of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry.

    Many state-administered Medicaid programs continue to cover mercury-containing fillings as a treatment for tooth decay, Brown said.

    “If you’re on Medicaid, if you are stuck in the Indian Health Service, if you were stuck in a prison or other institution, you just don’t have any choice,” Brown said.

    Brewer reported from Oklahoma City.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Feb. 2026

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  • Oklahoma Could Be Stepping Into A Huge Marijuana Mess

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    Oklahoma could be stepping into a huge marijuana mess as the governor targets the booming cannabis market.

    Oklahoma is no stranger to political firestorms. From fierce school funding battles to headline-grabbing budget fights over Medicaid expansion, the Sooner State has been rocked by dramatic clashes between lawmakers and voters. Now, another tempest is brewing—this one green, and potentially explosive. As Oklahoma’s medical marijuana industry boomed into one of the nation’s most lucrative markets, the governor’s office has signaled it might be time to slam the brakes, setting the stage of Oklahoma could be stepping in a huge marijuana mess.

    RELATED: Texas Works to Save Its Hemp Beverage Industry

    Since voters overwhelmingly approved State Question 788 in 2018, Oklahoma’s medical marijuana market has exploded into a significant economic force. In 2024 alone, dispensaries sold more than $715 million in medical cannabis products, generating roughly $82 million in tax revenue for the state through excise and sales taxes. Over the life of the program, revenue figures from licensing fees, excise taxes and sales tax contributions have added up to hundreds of millions of dollars funneled into state coffers, with education, substance abuse programs, and general funds all tapping into the proceeds.

    Health advocates and researchers point out medical cannabis isn’t just a cash crop. Numerous public health organizations—including the American Public Health Association, American College of Physicians and the Society of Cannabis Clinicians—have acknowledged cannabis can offer therapeutic value for patients with chronic pain, nausea and other debilitating conditions. A 1988 Drug Enforcement Administration administrative law judge concluded “marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man,” and many physicians support its use in certain medical contexts.

    That backdrop makes Gov. Kevin Stitt’s recent push to revisit the state’s medical marijuana law all the more dramatic. Stitt has publicly questioned whether Oklahoma’s cannabis market has spiraled out of control, arguing there are now “more dispensaries than pharmacies” and linking the industry to broader public safety concerns. His call to scale back—or even shut down—the legal market has ignited fierce debate in the Capitol and across the state.

    Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond echoed the governor’s misgivings about how the program was initially implemented, describing it as “truly the Wild West.” But he also warned dismantling the program would likely trigger massive financial consequences. According to Drummond, the state could face obligations to reimburse hundreds of license-holders for investments made under the existing law, because repealing or undermining the program could be seen as an unlawful “taking.”

    RELATED: Is CBD Next On The Fed’s Hit List

    For business owners, farmers, tankful dispensary operators and investors who poured capital into cultivation facilities, retail locations, processing equipment and jobs in hundreds of small communities, the warning rings loud and clear. While precise data on total private investment in Oklahoma’s cannabis sector is hard to pin down, economic analyses have projected billions in sales and tax revenue under expanded legalization scenarios.

    As the Legislature and voters prepare for what could be one of the most contentious ballot battles in recent memory, Oklahoma finds itself at a crossroads. Will the state preserve a medical marijuana program supporters call a lifeline for patients and a boon for local economies? Or will it heed the governor’s calls to shut it down and face the political and financial fallout? For now, the drama is just beginning—and in Oklahoma, that means the stakes couldn’t be higher.

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  • Forecasters Warn of a ‘Major Winter Storm’ With Ice Threat From Texas to the Carolinas

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    ATLANTA (AP) — With many Americans still recovering from multiple blasts of snow and unrelenting freezing temperatures in the nation’s northern tier, a new storm is set to emerge this weekend that could coat roads with ice and knock down power lines across the South.

    Forecasters on Tuesday expressed fears that an ice storm arriving late this week and into the weekend could weigh down power lines, sending them crashing and causing widespread power outages. Temperatures will be slow to warm in many areas, meaning ice that forms on roads and sidewalks might stick around, forecasters say.

    The exact timing of the approaching storm — and where it is headed — remained uncertain on Tuesday. Forecasters say it can be challenging to predict precisely which areas could see rain and which ones could be punished with ice.


    Cold air clashing with rain to fuel a ‘major winter storm’

    An extremely cold arctic air mass is set to dive south from Canada, setting up a clash with the cold temperatures and rain that will be streaming eastward across the southern U.S.

    “This is extreme, even for this being the peak of winter,” National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Jackson said of the cold temperatures.

    When the cold air meets the rain, the likely result will be “a major winter storm with very impactful weather, with all the moisture coming up from the Gulf and encountering all this particularly cold air that’s spilling in,” Jackson said.


    An atmospheric river could set up across the southern U.S.

    An atmospheric river of moisture could be in place by the weekend, pulling precipitation across Texas and other states along the Gulf Coast and continuing across Georgia and the Carolinas, forecasters said.

    “Global models are painting a concerning picture of what this weekend could look like, with an increasingly strong signal for ice storm potential across North Georgia and portions of central Georgia,” according to the National Weather Service’s Atlanta office.

    If significant accumulations of ice strike metro Atlanta, it could be a problem through the weekend since low temperatures early Monday are expected to be around 22 degrees (minus 5.6 Celsius) in Atlanta. The city’s high temperature on Monday is forecast to be around 35 degrees (1.7 Celsius).


    Highway and air travel could be tangled by the storm

    Travel is a major concern, as southern states have less equipment to remove snow and ice from roads, and extremely cold temperatures expected after the storm could prevent ice from melting for several days. In Michigan, more than 100 vehicles crashed into each other or slid off an interstate southwest of Grand Rapids on Monday.

    The storm is also expected to impact many of the nation’s major hub airports, including those in Dallas; Atlanta; Memphis, Tennessee; and Charlotte, North Carolina.


    Polar air from Canada to keep northern states in a deep freeze

    Unusually cold temperatures are already in place across much of the northern tier of the U.S., but the blast of arctic air expected later this week is “will be the coldest yet,” Jackson said.

    “There’s a large sprawling vortex of low pressure centered over Hudson Bay,” Jackson said of the sea in northern Canada that’s connected to the Arctic Ocean. “And this is dominating the weather over all of North America.”


    Texas could be a harbinger for other parts of the South

    Some of the storm’s earliest impacts could be in Texas on Friday, as the arctic air mass slides south through much of the state, National Weather Service forecaster Sam Shamburger said in a briefing on the storm.

    “At the same time, we’re expecting rain to move into much of the state,” Shamburger said.

    Low temperatures could fall into the 20s or even the teens in parts of Texas by Saturday, with the potential for a wintery mix of weather in the northern part of the state.

    Forecasters cautioned that significant uncertainty remains, particularly over how much ice or snow could fall across north and central Texas.

    “It’s going to be a very difficult forecast,” Shamburger said.

    Panjwani reported from Washington, D.C.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – January 2026

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  • A head-on car crash sidelined a young mom. A rare transplant was the only option to get her life back.

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    For Lacy Cornelius Boyd, March 19, 2024, was an exciting day. She and her husband had taken their 6-year-old daughter to the Grand Canyon as part of a family road trip. Boyd, her husband and their daughter were planning to stop at McDonald’s before heading home to Oklahoma. 

    Everything was well — until their car hit a patch of black ice. 

    “We were spinning. My husband obviously lost control, and he hit another car head-on,” Boyd recalled. Everything else was a blur. 

    Boyd’s daughter had a broken arm. Her husband and the other driver were fine. Boyd had broken bones in her neck and ribs, a collapsed lung, and severe injuries to her intestines. She had six surgeries in five days.

    But the damage to her intestines — caused by a too-tight seatbelt — kept getting worse, Boyd said. 

    “They were trying to save my intestines, and every time they would go back in, they were just dying from no blood flow,” Boyd said. “I was told that most people have 35 feet of small intestine. I was left with about 35 inches.” 

    Lacy Cornelius Boyd, her husband and their daughter at the Grand Canyon.

    Lacy Cornelius Boyd


    “Just going through the motions”

    Boyd was discharged from the hospital after a month. She was diagnosed with short bowel syndrome and had an ileostomy bag attached to her side to collect waste. Her remaining intestines couldn’t process the nutrients from food, so she needed 12 hours of IV nutrition a day. She said her daughter was afraid of the tubes, wires and medical machines that now filled their home. Boyd was always weak and dehydrated, and never wanted to leave the house. 

    “If I went out to eat somewhere, I’d be in the bathroom immediately, or I’d have to go to the bathroom five times at a restaurant, so it was just embarrassing,” Boyd said. “I felt like everyone was enjoying their life and I was just going through the motions.” 

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    Lacy Cornelius Boyd in the hospital.

    Lacy Cornelius Boyd


    Boyd, who had previously worked in healthcare, regularly met with doctors to see if her quality of life could be improved. No one had answers. Finally, she followed up on an unlikely lead. During her hospitalization, a surgeon had told Boyd’s sister she should contact the Cleveland Clinic. 

    Boyd self-referred herself to the hospital system in November 2024. She met with general surgeon Dr. Masato Fujiki and after an evaluation, he suggested something she’d never heard of before: An intestinal transplant. 

    “I started crying. I think he thought I was sad, but I was really happy,” Boyd said. “Everyone had told me that was going to be my life.” 

    A rare, risky transplant 

    Intestinal transplants are a rare procedure, said Dr. Adam Griesemer, a transplant surgeon at NYU Langone. Only about 100 are done in the U.S. every year, compared to the 25,000 kidney transplants done annually, said Fujiki, the director of Cleveland Clinic’s Intestinal Transplant Program. 

    Intestinal transplants have the worst outcomes of any type of transplant, Griesemer said, so there is a “high threshold” for doctors to consider them. They are generally only recommended for children born with intestinal defects and people who will be dependent on IV nutrition for the rest of their lives, like Boyd, he said. 

    Intestinal transplant patients “really struggle with rejection and infections,” Griesemer said. Intestines harbor bacteria inside them, so during cases of organ rejection, the barrier preventing the bacteria from entering the bloodstream breaks down. Fujiki said rejection rates have been improving over the past decade, estimating that it has decreased from 40% of cases to about 8%. Medication can help reduce infections, he said. 

    Only about 50% of patients survive more than five years after receiving the transplant, Griesemer said. In comparison, kidney transplants have a 98% five-year survival rate. 

    “Prepared for the worst”  

    Boyd began the process of getting listed for an intestinal transplant in November. In July 2025, 16 months after the car crash, Boyd received the transplant at the Cleveland Clinic. The day of the operation was filled with emotion, she said. 

    “I was excited. I was nervous. I was sad about leaving my daughter, and I felt for the donor’s family,” Boyd said. “But really, I was prepared for the worst.” 

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    Lacy Cornelius-Boyd (center) with transplant coordinator Erika Johnson (left) and Dr. Masato Fujiki (right).

    Lacy Cornelius Boyd


    The operation took about 12 hours, Fujiki said. Everything went smoothly. But it was just the first step in a long process: Boyd spent the next three weeks recovering in the hospital, followed by three months of outpatient recovery in Cleveland so she could stay near her care team for close monitoring. 

    Boyd had no complications in her recovery, Fujiki said. Her ostomy bag was removed. She no longer needed IV nutrition. The weekend before Thanksgiving, she returned to Oklahoma.

    “It was amazing to be able to come home,” Boyd said. 

    A festive return home 

    Boyd arrived home just in time for beloved holiday traditions. After missing other milestones, like her daughter’s first day of school and Halloween, Boyd was relieved to be a part of the celebrations. 

    “My daughter is six now, but my husband carries her to the Christmas tree every morning to get her presents. I don’t know how much longer she’s going to let him do that,” Boyd said. “I was like, ‘This year might be the last time, and I’ll miss it.’ But I didn’t.” 

    Boyd remains on a regimen of anti-rejection medications and will continue to receive follow-up care at the Cleveland Clinic. Otherwise, normalcy reigns, and it feels like the last of the trauma from the crash has been repaired, she said.

    “It’s nice to take my daughter to school, pick her up, not have to worry about anything, to take her and to be able to go out to eat. I couldn’t drink Coke before. I couldn’t do normal things for like, a year and a half,” Boyd said. “It’s so much. Everyone is just a little bit more at peace.” 

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    Lacy Cornelius Boyd and her daughter in matching pajamas on Christmas Eve. 

    Lacy Cornelius Boyd


    Edited by

    Lucia I Suarez Sang

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  • Coach tells Oklahoma St. to ‘look in the mirror’ before K-State clash

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    (Photo credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images)

    Oklahoma State coach Steve Lutz has been preaching defense all season, and the Cowboys finally seemed to have listened last week when they held UCF and Iowa State below their season averages.

    That all went out the window in a 94-79 loss to Baylor Tuesday.

    Oklahoma State (13-4, 1-3 Big 12) will try to get back on track Saturday when it hosts Kansas State (9-8, 0-4) in Stillwater, Okla.

    The loss to Baylor left the Cowboys, who had high hopes during nonconference play, behind the 8-ball in the Big 12 race.

    ‘At the end of the day, if you allow someone to come on your floor and score 94 points, you better look in the mirror,’ Lutz said.

    The Cowboys gave up 57 points in the first half and trailed by 18. They cut it to 10 in the second half, but could not get within striking distance of the Bears.

    ‘You can’t play the game of basketball, especially in the No. 1 league in the country, like it is an AAU game,’ Lutz said. ‘You have to play with intent. We did that a little better in the second half.

    ‘In college basketball, you can’t start winning until you stop losing. You can’t do things that make you lose. Not defending the 3 makes you lose. Turning the ball over eight times in the first half makes you lose. Getting offensive rebounds and not making them pay. Those are losing qualities. You have to flip that.’

    Anthony Roy continues to lead the Cowboys in scoring with 17.6 points, along with 4.2 rebounds per game. Parsa Fallah is scoring 15.1 and pulling down a team-high 6.5 rebounds.

    The Wildcats are coming off an 82-73 loss to UCF that kept them winless in the conference.

    ‘This calling of coaching is not for the faint of heart, especially in this league,’ Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said. ‘In the first eight minutes, we had eight turnovers and a couple of shots that might as well have been turnovers and they were able to get out in transition. When you dig yourself a hole, it is just hard.’

    P.J. Haggerty leads the Wildcats with 22.9 points and 4.6 assists per game.

    Abdi Bashir Jr., a 44.3% 3-point shooter, had 12 points against UCF on 4-of-13 shooting from distance. His aim has been hot and cold this month, following an 0-for-5 performance at No. 1 Arizona with a 6-for-12 day behind the arc when Kansas State faced Arizona State three days later.

    –Field Level Media

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  • Out to continue home success, Warriors take on Thunder

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    (Photo credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

    The Golden State Warriors will put their newfound home-court success to the ultimate test Friday night when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder in San Francisco.

    The Warriors have won five of six overall, including their last three at home over the Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks.

    The league leaders in road games played (20), the Warriors tip off a stretch of 10 of 11 at home, starting with a team that has already won at the Chase Center this season.

    In fact, the Thunder have won pretty much wherever they’ve gone, running up a 12-3 road record with losses only to the Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs.

    The latter two defeats have come in Oklahoma City’s most recent road contests against the Spurs and Timberwolves. Having played six of their last eight games at home, as well as a pair in Las Vegas during the NBA Cup competition, the Thunder haven’t won a true road contest in almost a month, since a triumph at Utah on Dec. 7.

    The defending champions begin a two-game trip on a three-game winning streak, having thumped the Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks and Trail Blazers by a combined 65 points.

    The San Francisco Bay Area visit represents a homecoming for emerging Thunder star Jalen Williams, who played at Santa Clara.

    He has contributed an average of 15.7 points to the winning streak, but Thunder coach Mark Daigneault was quick to point out after the Portland game that scoring numbers don’t tell his entire story.

    Williams totaled 20 rebounds, 20 assists and six steals in the wins.

    ‘What makes him a great player is that he’s very good at everything,’ Daigneault said. ‘That’s really what he needs to hang his hat on. It’s how he established himself as a great player. It’s how to continue to be a great player.’

    In a rare NBA matchup of Santa Clara alums, Williams will go head-to-head in San Francisco with Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski. They missed each other by one year at the school.

    Podziemski had three key fourth-quarter 3-pointers and 19 points in all in Golden State’s 132-125 win at Charlotte on Wednesday. He has scored in double figures in seven of his last eight games.

    The Warriors flew home from a 2-1 trip riding the momentum of a third, fourth and fifth straight 120-point performance and looking forward to three straight weeks in California. Their only road game in that stretch will be against the Los Angeles Clippers.

    ‘We’ve got to take advantage of it, for sure,’ Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. ‘The schedule was against us for the first couple months of the season, and now it flips back the other way. We’ve got to take advantage.’

    Part of the tough early stretch was the pair of early meetings with the Thunder.

    In a matchup of superstar guards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander outscored Stephen Curry 28-11 in a 126-102 romp at Oklahoma City in November, before Curry sat out with a bruised quad and watched his rival pour in 38 points in a 124-112 win in a visit to San Francisco in early December.

    –Field Level Media

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  • ‘There he was’: Surprise military homecoming brings Christmas miracle to NBA game

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    ‘There he was’: Surprise military homecoming brings Christmas miracle to NBA game

    WEBSITE FOR A FULL LIST OF ALL THE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES. WELL, THE OKC THUNDER LOST THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS TODAY AT THE MACOMB, BUT A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE STILL MADE ITS WAY TO THE FLOOR WITH A SURPRISE MILITARY HOMECOMING. TAKE A LOOK. I WASN’T EXPECTING ALL OF THAT. I WAS JUST EXPECTING, YOU KNOW, JUST GO OUT THERE AND JUST KIND OF SHOW UP. AND THAT WAS IT. VERY SPECIAL PERSON WITH US. MAKE SOME NOISE FOR DREW ALLEN. HE REPRESENTS ALL OF THOSE WHO ARE SERVING AWAY FROM THOSE HE LOVED THE MOST THROUGH THE HOLIDAY SEASON. NOW, SOME TICKETS FOR THE GAME. SO I WAS EXPECTING JUST TO COME AND WATCH THE GAME. THAT WAS IT. ESPECIALLY IN THIS SPECIAL. HERE IN, THE CROWD SHOUTED, CHEERING OH, SOMETHING IS UP! SO THEN I TURNED AROUND AND YEAH, THERE HE WAS. IT’S IMPORTANT. I MEAN, IT’S FAMILY CHRISTMAS TIME. THE HOLIDAYS. EVERYBODY WAS CHEERING AND EXCITED TO SEE, YOU KNOW TO SEE THIS GOING ON. SO I’M PRETTY EXCITED. I MEAN I MIGHT NOT SHOW, BUT I’M DEEP INSIDE. I’M PRETTY EXCITED. YEAH. SERGEANT ANTHONY COVINGTON WITH THE 45TH MOBILE PUBLIC AFFAIRS DETACHMENT CURRENTLY DEPLOYED IN GERMANY. I WAS WORKING WITH THE THUNDER TEAM BACK AND FORTH, TRYING TO MAKE SURE IT WOULDN’T BE SURPRISED. HE DIDN’T KNOW I WAS COMING. SO HERE I HATE MYSELF UNTIL THE DAY. AND NOW WE’RE HERE. THE SERVICE. THIS LIKE A REAL OPPORTUNITY. A LOT OF PEOPLE DON’T GET TO SEE THEIR FAMILY FOR YEARS. ONE MORE TIME TO REALLY. AND HIS SON, WHO CAME BACK HOME

    ‘There he was’: Surprise military homecoming brings Christmas miracle to NBA game

    Updated: 3:29 PM PST Dec 27, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    The Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, but a Christmas miracle still made its way to the court at the Paycom Center with a surprise military homecoming.Juba Allen went to the Christmas Day game, and he was brought down to the court and recognized during a military tribute. During the tribute, his son, Anthony Ackah-Mensah, surprised Allen while the crowd in Oklahoma City roared and cheered.Open the video player above for the story.

    OKLAHOMA CITY —

    The Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, but a Christmas miracle still made its way to the court at the Paycom Center with a surprise military homecoming.

    Juba Allen went to the Christmas Day game, and he was brought down to the court and recognized during a military tribute. During the tribute, his son, Anthony Ackah-Mensah, surprised Allen while the crowd in Oklahoma City roared and cheered.

    Open the video player above for the story.

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  • Oklahoma man charged with fatal shooting of woman during backyard target practice

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    An Oklahoma man shot and killed a woman several blocks away while target practicing on a Red Bull can in his backyard on Christmas Day, local authorities said.

    The victim was sitting with her family under a covered porch when they heard multiple rounds of gunshots, according to a probable cause affidavit. She commented that someone got a new gun for Christmas before saying “ouch,” and collapsing from the gunshot. The woman, who was hit by a bullet in her right upper arm, had been holding a child in her left. The bullet entered her chest cavity.

    When Stephens County Sheriff’s Office Captain Timothy Vann, the affidavit deponent, arrived at the scene that afternoon, he said that CPR was still in progress for the victim and that she was pronounced dead minutes later.

    Cody Wayne Adams, 33, was charged with first-degree manslaughter. Deputies learned that Adams had recently received a Glock .45 caliber handgun, which he later confirmed he had bought himself for Christmas. When Vann told Adams he suspected his shooting caused the victim’s death, he “became visibly upset and began to cry,” according to the affidavit. 

    Adams consented to a search of the property, where Vann noticed a broken piece of ceramic tile in front of the Red Bull can, which would account for the high angle of entry into the victim’s yard, according to the affidavit.

    “I also noted to Adams that while he was shooting towards the ground in his backyard that there was nothing behind his property to stop any bullets from traveling beyond his property and hurting someone,” Vann wrote. 

    After being escorted to the sheriff’s office, Adams acknowledged that he had been shooting south from his residence and that the first loaded magazine had about eight rounds while the second had about 10 rounds, according to the affidavit. At the conclusion of the interview, Vann again told Adams he believed his shooting caused the victim’s death, to which Adams responded, “I’m sorry,” the affidavit said. 

    CBS News has reached out to Adams’ attorney. His initial court appearance is slated for Feb. 2, 2026 and his bond is set at $100,000. He is not allowed to have contact with the victim’s family. 

    In 2023, more than 400 people were killed by accidental shootings in the United States, according to the most recent Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence report. 

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  • How a small Oklahoma town pays homage to the leg lamp from

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    How a small Oklahoma town pays homage to the leg lamp from “A Christmas Story” – CBS News









































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    The leg lamp in “A Christmas Story” might be one of cinema’s most iconic props, and one small town in Oklahoma has a special way to celebrate it. Omar Villafranca reports.

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  • Oklahoma College Instructor Fired After Giving Failing Grade To Bible-based Essay On Gender

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    The University of Oklahoma has fired an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”

    The university said in a statement posted Monday on X that its investigation found the graduate teaching assistant had been “arbitrary” in giving 20-year-old junior Samantha Fulnecky zero points on the assignment. The university declined to comment beyond its statement, which said the instructor had been removed from teaching.

    Through her attorney, the instructor, Mel Curth, denied Tuesday that she had “engaged in any arbitrary behavior regarding the student’s work.” The attorney, Brittany Stewart, said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press that Curth is “considering all of her legal remedies.”

    Conservative groups, commentators and others quickly made Fulnecky’s failing grade an online cause, highlighting her argument that she’d been punished for expressing conservative Christian views. Her case became a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over academic freedom on college campuses as President Donald Trump pushes to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and restrict how campuses discuss race, gender and sexuality.

    Fulnecky appealed her grade on the assignment, which was worth 3% of the final grade in the class, and the university said the assignment would not count. It also placed Curth on leave, and Oklahoma’s conservative Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, declared the situation “deeply concerning.”

    “The University of Oklahoma believes strongly in both its faculty’s rights to teach with academic freedom and integrity and its students’ right to receive an education that is free from a lecturer’s impermissible evaluative standards,” the university’s statement said. “We are committed to teaching students how to think, not what to think.”

    A law approved this year by Oklahoma’s Republican-dominated Legislature and signed by Stitt prohibits state universities from using public funds to finance DEI programs or positions or mandating DEI training. However, the law says it does not apply to scholarly research or “the academic freedom of any individual faculty member.”

    Home telephone listings for Fulnecky in the Springfield, Missouri, area had been disconnected, and her mother — an attorney, podcaster and radio host — did not immediately respond Tuesday to a Facebook message seeking comment about the university’s action.

    Fulnecky’s failing grade came in an assignment for a psychology class on lifespan development. Curth directed students to write a 650-word response to an academic study that examined whether conformity with gender norms was associated with popularity or bullying among middle school students.

    Fulnecky wrote that she was frustrated by the premise of the assignment because she does not believe that there are more than two genders based on her understanding of the Bible, according to a copy of her essay provided to The Oklahoman.

    “Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth,” she wrote, adding that it would lead society “farther from God’s original plan for humans.”

    In feedback obtained by the newspaper, Curth said the paper did “not answer the questions for the assignment,” contradicted itself, relied on “personal ideology” over evidence and “is at times offensive.”

    “Please note that I am not deducting points because you have certain beliefs,” Curth wrote.

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  • Keeler: Deion Sanders isn’t enough. CU Buffs football needs a sugar daddy for Christmas.

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    Omarion Miller finished Julian Lewis’ passes the way Meg Ryan finished Billy Crystal’s sentences in “When Harry Met Sally.”

    Alas, there won’t be a happy ending. Or a sequel.

    Miller — the CU Buffs’ leading receiver in 2025 — announced Wednesday that he was entering the transfer portal. And apparently Tawfiq Byard will have whatever Miller’s having. The Buffs safety, CU’s best defensive player this past fall despite playing much of it with just one working hand, also plans to transfer out of BoCo next month.

    Pain is a process. The gut says, “If we can go 3-9 with you, we can go 3-9 without you, dude.”

    The head says something else. Something along the lines of, “Man, Deion Sanders could really, really use a sugar daddy this Christmas.”

    Remember when the Buffs hired Coach Prime and finally got out ahead of the college football curve?

    That lasted about 16 to 18 months.

    Celebrity coaches are out.

    Celebrity investors are in.

    Texas Tech, per YahooSports.com, raised about $49 million for student-athletes from July 2024 to July 2025. A new Red Raiders donor group, called the Athletic Donor Circle, had already pledged roughly $35 million as of early November.

    Last week, Utah became the first Power 4 athletic department to formally partner with a private equity firm. ESPN.com reports that Otro Capital out of New York is ready to pump $400 million into the Utes.

    Texas Tech bought the best team on the planet, went 12-1, won the Big 12 title and earned a bye in the College Football Playoff. Utah posted a 10-2 record and beat the Buffs 53-7 in late October.

    CU athletics, meanwhile, is reportedly staring at a potential $27 million deficit for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, according to multiple outlets. Thank players and Prime, primarily.

    Sanders’ salary went up by nearly $5 million for 2025 after his new extension kicked in. The House vs. NCAA settlement required CU to share revenues with student-athletes starting this past July 1, with a cap of $20.5 million for this fiscal cycle. Yet it’s hard to imagine good players such as Miller and Byard taking pay cuts at their next ports of call, isn’t it?

    Buffs officials saw the train coming years ago, even as the bills keep piling up. Which is why the indoor practice facility is now sponsored by Mountain States Ford Stores. And why artificial turf was installed at Folsom Field — so the stadium could be utilized more often as a host to revenue-driving events outside the athletic calendar.

    Concerts and uniform sponsorships — UNLV will reportedly collect about $2.2 million annually over the next five years from Acesso Biologics, its new “Official Jersey Patch Partner” — will only cover so much. The student-athlete revenue sharing pool is expected to increase by 4% next year. Sanders is slated to make $11 million in 2027, $11 million in 2028 and $12 million in 2029.

    The Buffs can’t play at the same poker tables as the Red Raiders and Utes — or retain star players — without a serious influx of cash. Utah is pointing the way now. Not CU.

    College football is so broken. The system? The system — and by that, we mean greedy college presidents and the corporate suits they propped up as conference commissioners — for too long took advantage of student-athletes as a pool of indentured labor, as entertainment contractors on the cheap. A free market for talent was overdue. But the pendulum has swung so hard the other way that roster retention is the stuff of satire now.

    Bowls? Bowls are nothing more than three-hour infomercials for some random chamber of commerce or provincial company you’ve never heard of; exhibitions propped up by Disney stiffs to eat up programming blocks over the holidays. When Iowa State and Kansas State would sooner eat a million bucks in league fines than join in, that ship’s sailed. (Not you, Pop-Tarts Bowl. You’re weirdly perfect. And perfectly weird.)

    Fans? Fans are caught in the crossfire, casualties in the battle of dollars over sense. Ticket prices and point-of-entry fees will skyrocket. Pay-per-view will become more the norm than the exception. Universities will pass the cost to the consumer.

    The Buffs vow that they won’t cut sports — and with only 13 non-football options offered, they don’t have much room on that front to cut, anyway. They’ve vowed that they won’t lop student-athlete services, although outgoing athletic director Rick George laid off two track coaches last spring.

    Something’s gotta give. Of course, if Coach Prime wanted to help retain student-athletes, he could donate half of his $10 million salary to the revenue-sharing pool. That’s not happening.

    In an effort to slow the chaos, FBS scholarships could require a minimum of two years of service at your initial college of choice coming out of high school. But that’s not happening, either.

    As of early Friday morning, at least 11 CU players had expressed interest in transferring out. Among the Big 12 programs that didn’t change coaches (Kansas State, Iowa State, Oklahoma State), only West Virginia had seen more defections (19) as of mid-December than the Buffs.

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  • Victor Wembanyama, Spurs halt Thunder’s record streak, make NBA Cup final

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    (Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

    Victor Wembanyama delivered 15 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter in his return from a calf injury and the San Antonio Spurs earned a spot in the NBA Cup West final with a 111-109 upset of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

    Devin Vassell scored 23 points and De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle added 22 apiece as San Antonio handed the Thunder just their second loss in 26 games this season.

    The Spurs will play the New York Knicks in Tuesday night’s NBA Cup final. The Knicks beat the Orlando Magic 132-120 earlier Saturday in the other semifinal.

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points for the Thunder, who had their franchise-record 16-game winning streak halted. Oklahoma City had not lost since Nov. 5 at Portland.

    Wembanyama returned after a 12-game absence and was limited to 20 minutes. He collected nine rebounds and San Antonio outscored the Thunder by 21 when Wembanyama was on the floor.

    Jalen Williams had 17 points, seven rebounds and four steals and Chet Holmgren added 17 points for Oklahoma City. Alex Caruso had 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals off the bench and Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.

    The Thunder pulled within 106-105 on a dunk by Gilgeous-Alexander with 14.9 seconds left.

    Castle made two free throws with 9.8 seconds remaining to give San Antonio a three-point lead. After the Thunder again pulled within one, Vassell made two free throws with 3.3 seconds left to give the Spurs a 111-108 lead.

    Williams was fouled and made the first free throw with 1.5 seconds left. He missed the second on purpose but Caruso’s follow sailed behind the basket.

    The Spurs made 41.1% of their field-goal attempts, including 13 of 42 from behind the arc, while winning for the 18th time in 25 games this season.

    Oklahoma City shot 41.3% from the field and was just 9 of 37 from 3-point range.

    The Spurs took their first lead at 57-56 on a basket by Fox with 8:45 left in the third quarter.

    That was part of a 10-0 run that ended with Vassell’s trey to put San Antonio up six with 7:58 remaining.

    Fox made two free throws with 0.1 seconds to go as San Antonio took a 78-77 lead into the final stanza.

    The Spurs were up five in the fourth quarter before the Thunder used a 11-3 push to take a 93-90 edge on Caruso’s basket with 6:47 remaining.

    At the outset, Oklahoma City jumped out to a 14-4 lead and ended up with a 31-20 advantage after the opening period.

    Wembanyama entered for the first time at the start of the second quarter and the Spurs immediately went on a 9-2 run.

    Later in the quarter, the Thunder went on a 14-2 burst and took a 47-31 lead on Caruso’s basket with 3:53 left in the first half.

    San Antonio finished the half with 11 straight points to trail 49-46 at the break.

    –Field Level Media

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  • Sherrone Moore jailed as police investigate situation that led to the fired Michigan coach’s arrest

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    ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Sherrone Moore was being held in jail Thursday while police investigate the situation that led to his arrest hours after the once-promising coach was fired at Michigan for what the school said was an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

    Authorities have yet to release details on Moore’s arrest, other than to say he has been held since Wednesday night in the Washtenaw County Jail and remains under investigation.

    Pittsfield Township police had issued a statement that said officers were called to investigate an alleged assault and took a person into custody, without mentioning anyone by name. The statement, however, was released in response to media inquiries about Moore.

    The police department updated its statement in the morning to say the suspect is scheduled for arraignment on Friday.

    Moore, 39, was fired by Michigan, college football’s winningest program that has been mired in scandal, after the school verified evidence of his relationship with the staffer.

    Athletic director Warde Manuel said the behavior “constitutes a clear violation of university policy.”

    The announcement did not include details of the alleged relationship. Moore, who is married with three young daughters, did not return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

    His departure ends an up-and-down, two-year tenure that saw the Wolverines take a step back on the field after winning the national championship in January 2024 and getting punished by the NCAA for a sign-stealing scandal.

    Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore celebrates with kicker Dominic Zvada (96) after an extra-point kick during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Maryland, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in College Park, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

    He led the 18th-ranked Wolverines to a 9-3 record this year after going 8-5 in his debut season.

    Moore signed a five-year contract with a base annual salary of $5.5 million last year. According to the terms of his deal, the university will not have to buy out the remaining years of his contract because he was fired for cause.

    His firing leaves Michigan suddenly looking for a third coach in four years, shortly after a busy cycle that included Lane Kiffin leaving playoff-bound Mississippi for LSU.

    Moore, the team’s former offensive coordinator, was promoted to lead the Wolverines after they won the national title. He succeeded Jim Harbaugh, who returned to the NFL to lead the Los Angeles Chargers.

    Michigan is set to play No. 14 Texas on Dec. 31 in the Citrus Bowl. Biff Poggi, who filled in for Moore when he was suspended earlier this season in relation to the Harbaugh-era sign-stealing scandal, will serve as interim coach. Moore was suspended for two games as part of self-imposed sanctions for NCAA violations related to the scandal.

    The NCAA added a third game to the suspension, which would have kept Moore off the sideline for next year’s opener against Western Michigan.

    Moore previously deleted an entire 52-message text thread with former staffer Connor Stalions, who was at the center of the team’s sign-stealing operation. The texts were later recovered and shared with the NCAA.

    Just a few years ago, Moore was Harbaugh’s top assistant and regarded as a rising star.

    Moore, who is from Derby, Kansas, didn’t start playing football until his junior year of high school. He played for Butler County Community College in Kansas and as an offensive lineman for coach Bob Stoops at Oklahoma during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

    His coaching career began as a graduate assistant at Louisville before moving on to Central Michigan, where he caught Harbaugh’s attention. Harbaugh hired him in 2018 as tight ends coach.

    Moore was promoted to offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator in 2021, when the Wolverines bounced back from a 2-4, pandemic-shortened season and began a three-year run of excellence that culminated in the school’s first national title in 26 years.

    He worked his way up within the Wolverines’ staff and filled in as interim coach for four games during the 2023 championship season while Harbaugh served two suspensions for potential NCAA rules violations.

    Moore also served a one-game suspension during that year related to a recruiting infractions NCAA case.

    Earlier in the 2023 season, Michigan State fired coach Mel Tucker for cause after he engaged in what he described as consensual phone sex with an activist and rape survivor. In 2012, Arkansas fired coach Bobby Petrino due to a sordid scandal that involved a motorcycle crash, an affair with a woman who worked for him and being untruthful to his bosses.

    ___

    Associated Press Writer Ed White contributed.

    ___

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  • College football rankings start juggling act at 6-7, while top 5 remain the same

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    The College Football Playoff rankings placed the spotlight on, where else this year, “6-7″ — flip-flopping Oregon and Ole Miss in those spots while keeping their top five teams the same in Tuesday night’s reveal.

    Oregon’s impressive victory over Southern California in one of last week’s few games between ranked teams accounted for the biggest change, moving the Ducks ahead of Mississippi, which didn’t play.

    The other meaningful shift was Miami’s move to No. 12, in a switch with Utah after the Utes gave up 472 yards rushing in a tight win over Kansas State.

    There are two more rankings to be revealed — next Tuesday, then Dec. 7 when the final top 25 will set the bracket for the 12-team playoff to start Dec. 19,

    Pitt’s return to the rankings — at No. 22 — after falling out for a week impacts the meaning of its key Atlantic Coast Conference game this week against the Hurricanes, who need a win and some help to make the conference title game but still have hopes of grabbing one of the playoff’s seven at-large berths.

    “Miami is a team that it really appears is starting to look like the Miami team that started 5-0,” said Hunter Yurachek, the chair of the selection committee.

    Following the Buckeyes for the fourth time in four rankings were fellow undefeated teams Indiana and Texas A&M. Georgia stayed at No. 4, followed by Texas Tech. After Oregon and Mississippi came Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama and BYU at No. 11 and first team out on this week’s proverbial bubble.

    Ohio State and Indiana will play in what should be a 1 vs. 2 Big Ten title game if both win rivalry showdowns on the road over Thanksgiving weekend. Ohio State’s task is more difficult — against Michigan, which moved up three spots to No. 15. Indiana plays Purdue.

    No. 10 Alabama plays at Auburn with a spot in the Southeastern Conference title game on the line. The Tide’s opponent would be Texas A&M if the Aggies win at No. 16 Texas.

    Notre Dame and Miami were compared this week

    After some confusion last week about the weight given to Miami’s opening-week win over Notre Dame, Yurachek said those teams were, indeed, close enough in the rankings this week to be compared head-to-head. But still, that victory was not enough to push the Hurricanes past Notre Dame.

    “We compare a number of things when looking at teams closely ranked together,” Yurachek said. “We’ve got some teams ranked between Miami and Notre Dame, such as Alabama and BYU, who we’re also comparing Miami to.”

    Could Kiffin’s job status impact Ole Miss?

    Among the factors the committee can consider is the availability of players and coaches, which has potential to bring Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s job status into play.

    Word from Oxford is that a decision will come on Kiffin’s potential move to LSU or Florida after this week’s game against Mississippi State. An Ole Miss team without one of the most sought-after coaches in the game wouldn’t seem as good as one with him.

    Still, Yurachek wouldn’t tip his hand on how that evaluation might go.

    “We’ll take care of that when it happens,” Yurachek said. “We don’t look ahead. The loss of player, loss of a key coach, is in the principles of how we rank teams, but we don’t have a data point for how we look at Ole Miss without their coach.”

    Ducks move to ‘where they need to be’

    After Oregon’s 42-27 win over USC, coach Dan Lanning said his team deserves credit for the schedule it plays — which included a tough conference game during a week in which many in the SEC were going against non-ranked, double-digit underdogs.

    The committee agreed.

    “We’ve been waiting for them to have that signature win to really put them where they need to be,” Yurachek said.

    Conference watch

    ACC — No. 18 Virginia and No. 21 SMU are the favorites to reach the title game, which means one of them has an inside edge to be in the playoff. The Hurricanes are likely in an at-large showdown with the likes of BYU, Vanderbilt and maybe Alabama.

    Big 12 — BYU is angling for another crack at Texas Tech in the title game. Hard to see the Cougars getting there, losing to the Red Raiders again and still making the playoff.

    Big Ten — Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon are locks. Michigan’s move up three to No. 15 gives the Wolverines a chance at an at-large bid (or maybe the conference title) with a win this week over the Buckeyes.

    SEC — Texas A&M, Georgia, Mississippi and Oklahoma should all be in. Alabama can’t really afford a third loss, but what if that loss comes in the SEC title game? The Tide makes it by beating Auburn. Vanderbilt would strengthen its case with a win at No. 19 Tennessee this week.

    Group of 5 — No. 24 Tulane of the American is still the only team from a non-power conference in the rankings. One problem. BetMGM Sportsbook has North Texas as the favorite to win the league title. That, in turn, could bring someone like James Madison back into the conversation.

    Projected first-round playoff matchups

    No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Texas Tech: Could the Red Raiders, a deep-pocketed disruptor in the college football space, also turn into one of the sport’s powerhouses?

    No. 11 Miami at No. 6 Oregon: The Mario Cristobal Bowl — Hurricanes coach left Ducks suddenly in 2021 to return home.

    No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 Mississippi: Kiffin, the old offensive coordinator at Alabama, is 0-4 vs. Tide with Ole Miss.

    No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma: Notre Dame’s first televised game was a 27-21 win over OU in 1952.

    ___

    Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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  • How trading wild turkeys for other animals became a conservation success story

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    CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — No one wants a weasel on their Thanksgiving table, but swapping turkeys for other animals was once surprisingly common.

    Trading turkeys – for wildlife management, not dinner – was a key part of one of North America’s biggest conservation success stories. After dwindling to a few thousand birds in the late 1880s, the wild turkey population has grown to about 7 million birds in 49 states, plus more in Canada and Mexico, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation.

    In many cases, restoration relied on trades. The exchange rates varied, but Oklahoma once swapped walleye and prairie chickens for turkeys from Arkansas and Missouri. Colorado traded mountain goats for turkeys from Idaho. The Canadian province of Ontario ended up with 274 turkeys from New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Michigan, Missouri and Iowa in exchange for moose, river otters, and partridge.

    “Wildlife biologists don’t suffer from a lack of creativity,” said Patt Dorsey, director of conservation for the National Wild Turkey Federation’s western region.

    West Virginia in particular appears to have had an abundance of turkeys to share. In 1969, it sent 26 turkeys to New Hampshire in exchange for 25 fishers, a member of the weasel family once prized for its pelt. Later trades involved otters and bobwhite quail.

    “They were like our currency for all our wildlife that we restored,” said Holly Morris, furbearer and small game project leader at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. “It’s just a way to help out other agencies. We’re all in the same mission.”

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    Wild turkeys were abundant across the U.S. until the mid-1800s, when the clearing of forestland and unregulated hunting led the population to plummet. Early restoration efforts in the 1940s and 50s involved raising turkeys on farms, but that didn’t work well, Dorsey said.

    “Turkeys that had been raised in a pen didn’t do very well in the wild,” she said. “That’s when we started capturing them out of the wild and moving them around to other places to restore their population, and they really took off.”

    In New Hampshire, wild turkeys hadn’t been seen for more than 100 years when the state got the West Virginia flock. Though those birds quickly succumbed to a harsh winter, another flock sent from New York in 1975 fared better. With careful management that included moving birds around the state dozens of times over the ensuing decades, the population has grown to roughly 40,000 birds, said Dan Ellingwood, a biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. That’s likely well beyond the expectations at the time of reintroduction, he said.

    “Turkeys are incredibly adaptive,” he said. “Winter severity has changed, the landscape has changed, and yet the population really took off.”

    Turkeys play an important role in a healthy ecosystem as both predator and prey, he said, and are a popular draw for hunters. But the restoration effort also is important just for the sake of ensuring native species continue to persist, he said.

    Dorsey, at the National Wild Turkey Federation agreed, noting that turkey restoration projects also helped states revive their populations of other species.

    “A lot of good work gets done on the back of the wild turkey,” she said.

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  • Oklahoma college basketball player dies after suffering injury during game in Texas

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    A basketball player at a junior college in Oklahoma who was injured during a game has died, school officials said.

    Connors State College sophomore Ethan Dietz died Tuesday after he was injured during the second half of a game Saturday in Texas, the school said in a statement posted to its Facebook page. A spokesperson for the college, Shannon Rigsby, said initial reports indicate Dietz suffered some kind of head injury, but that she didn’t have any more information.

    “Ethan exemplified what it means to be a Cowboy, to value hard work and being part of a team,” according to the statement from the school. “While the team and the Cowboy community are processing our own grief, our hearts go out to his family and friends.”

    Dietz scored six points and grabbed four rebounds in his final game against Grayson College before suffering the fatal injury.

    Messages seeking comment were left Wednesday with the college’s athletic director and men’s basketball coach.

    Connors State College sophomore Ethan Dietz 

    Connors State College


    Several of the college’s men’s and women’s basketball games were canceled following Dietz’s death.  The school said counseling would be made available to students, faculty and staff.

    Dietz was a 6-foot-8 forward from Vilonia, Arkansas, who was averaging 11 points per game through eight games so far this season, according to the team’s website.

    “Ethan’s loss reminds us all how precious life is and how much those around us impact our lives,” the school said in its statement. “As we move through this loss together as a community, let’s be inspired by Ethan’s spirit, friendship and love.”

    A vigil in his honor was scheduled for Dec. 1 at the college’s campus in Warner, Oklahoma.

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  • One of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre’s Last Survivors, Viola Ford Fletcher, Dies Age 111

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    DALLAS (AP) — Viola Ford Fletcher, who as one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma spent her later years seeking justice for the deadly attack by a white mob on the thriving Black community where she lived as a child, has died. She was 111.

    Her grandson Ike Howard said Monday that she died surrounded by family at a Tulsa hospital. Sustained by a strong faith, she raised three children, worked as a welder in a shipyard during World War II and spent decades caring for families as a housekeeper.

    Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said the city was mourning her loss. “Mother Fletcher endured more than anyone should, yet she spent her life lighting a path forward with purpose,” he said in a statement.

    She was 7 years old when the two-day attack began on Tulsa’s Greenwood district on May 31, 1921, after a local newspaper published a sensationalized report about a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman. As a white mob grew outside the courthouse, Black Tulsans with guns who hoped to prevent the man’s lynching began showing up. White residents responded with overwhelming force. Hundreds of people were killed and homes were burned and looted, leaving over 30 city blocks decimated in the prosperous community known as Black Wall Street.

    “I could never forget the charred remains of our once-thriving community, the smoke billowing in the air, and the terror-stricken faces of my neighbors,” she wrote in her 2023 memoir, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story.”

    As her family left in a horse-drawn buggy, her eyes burned from the smoke and ash, she wrote. She described seeing piles of bodies in the streets and watching as a white man shot a Black man in the head, then fired toward her family.

    She told The Associated Press in an interview the year her memoir was published that fear of reprisals influenced her years of near-silence about the massacre. She wrote the book with Howard, her grandson, who said he had to persuade her to tell her story.

    “We don’t want history to repeat itself so we do need to educate people about what happened and try to get people to understand why you need to be made whole, why you need to be repaired,” Howard told the AP in 2024. “The generational wealth that was lost, the home, all the belongings, everything was lost in one night.”

    “For as long as we remain in this lifetime, we will continue to shine a light on one of the darkest days in American history,” Fletcher and Randle said in a statement at the time. Van Ellis had died a year earlier, at the age of 102.

    The city has been looking for ways to help descendants of the massacre’s victims without giving direct cash payments. Some of the last living survivors, including Fletcher, received donations from groups but have not received any payments from the city or state.

    Fletcher, born in Oklahoma on May 10, 1914, spent most of her early years in Greenwood. It was an oasis for Black people during segregation, she wrote in her memoir. Her family had a nice home, she said, and the community had everything from doctors to grocery stores to restaurants and banks.

    Forced to flee during the massacre, her family became nomadic, living out of a tent as they worked in the fields as sharecroppers. She didn’t finish school beyond the fourth grade.

    At the age of 16, she returned to Tulsa, where she got a job cleaning and creating window displays in a department store, she wrote in her memoir. She then met Robert Fletcher, and they married and moved to California. During World War II, she worked in a Los Angeles shipyard as a welder, she wrote.

    She eventually left her husband, who was physically abusive, and gave birth to their son, Robert Ford Fletcher, she wrote. Longing to be closer to her family, she returned to Oklahoma and settled north of Tulsa in Bartlesville.

    Fletcher wrote that her faith and the close-knit Black community gave her the support she needed to raise her children. She had another son, James Edward Ford, and a daughter, Debra Stein Ford, from other relationships.

    She worked for decades as a housekeeper, doing everything in those homes from cooking to cleaning to caring for children, Howard said. She worked until she was 85.

    She eventually returned to Tulsa to live. Howard said his grandmother hoped the move would help in her fight for justice.

    Howard said the reaction his grandmother got when she started speaking out was therapeutic for her.

    “This whole process has been helpful,” Howard said.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Nov. 2025

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  • AP Top 25 poll preview: ACC playoff picture gets messier with Georgia Tech loss and SMU win

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    Eight of the top 10 teams in the AP Top 25 poll either had the day off or were given the gift of a late-season cupcake game in Week 13. No. 6 Oregon and No. 8 Oklahoma were exceptions, with ranked conference matchups against Southern California and Missouri.

    The Ducks and Sooners both maintained positioning for at-large College Football Playoff bids. Oregon beat No. 16 USC 42-27 in the teams’ first meeting as members of the Big Ten. Oklahoma improved to 9-2 with a 17-6 win over No. 23 Missouri.

    Oregon is tied with Texas Tech at No. 6 in the AP poll and is No. 7 in the CFP rankings. Oklahoma ranks No. 8 in both.

    Chaos unfolded in the Atlantic Coast Conference as No. 15 Georgia Tech was upset at home by Pittsburgh on Saturday night. The Yellow Jackets’ chances of making the conference championship plummeted, while SMU’s odds increased with a win over Louisville. No. 19 Virginia also has a good chance to make the ACC title game.

    Holding steady

    — Oklahoma took care of business, knocking off Missouri and inching closer to an at-large CFP bid. John Mateer threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns. Oklahoma’s defense had two interceptions of Missouri’s Beau Pribula, who was playing for the first time since dislocating his ankle in late October, and held standout running back Ahmad Hardy to 57 rushing yards.

    — Among the Week 13 cupcakes, No. 3 Texas A&M defeated Samford 48-0 and No. 4 Georgia rolled past Charlotte 35-3. Both teams are still favorites for a first-round bye in the playoff, a position Georgia began occupying after last week’s 35-10 rout of Texas.

    — No. 1 Ohio State overcame a slow start and remained unbeaten with a 42-9 victory over Rutgers. The Buckeyes outscored the Scarlet Knights 28-6 in the second half.

    — Oregon knocked off USC 42-27. The Ducks pulled ahead with a pair of touchdowns before halftime and maintained their lead throughout the second half.

    — No. 13 Utah narrowly dodged an upset loss to Kansas State, scoring two touchdowns in the final 2:47 to overcome a 47-37 deficit and sealing the deal with a late interception.

    — No. 11 BYU beat Cincinnati 26-14 in the Big 12’s game of the week. LJ Martin rushed for 222 yards and two touchdowns to carry the Cougars.

    Falling out of the picture

    — The slide continued for a Louisville team once thought to be on its way to the ACC championship game. The Cardinals lost their third straight, 38-6 to an SMU team on the rise.

    — Missouri is at risk of falling out of the rankings after losing to Oklahoma, the Tigers’ fourth defeat this season.

    — USC’s playoff chances plummeted after a loss to Oregon that was largely viewed as an elimination game. The Trojans fell to 8-3 on the season and 6-2 in conference play.

    — In a game where a win would’ve clinched a spot in the ACC championship game, the worst-case scenario unfolded for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets lost 42-28 to Pitt.

    On the rise

    — No. 24 Tulane has three straight wins and a 9-2 record after beating Temple 37-13. Tulane is a strong contender for a CFP spot, earning the No. 12 seed in the most recent bracket as the highest-ranked Group of Five team.

    — SMU’s 38-6 rout of Louisville put the Mustangs one win away from their second ACC championship game appearance in two years.

    — Pitt’s win against Georgia Tech strengthened its playoff chances, but a lot still needs to happen for the Panthers to make their first ACC title game since 2021. Pitt needs to beat Miami next week, along with a loss by either SMU or Virginia.

    ___

    Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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  • First Native woman drives Oklahoma’s iconic Sooner Schooner, a covered wagon mascot

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    For the first time in its 60-year history, the Sooner Schooner, the University of Oklahoma’s iconic covered wagon mascot, is being driven by a Native American woman.

    Brianna Howard, a junior at OU and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, first drove the Schooner onto the field during the football team’s season opener against Illinois State.

    “I only had a minute to get on the Schooner, get the reins and go,” Howard said Saturday before the Sooners’ game against Missouri in Norman. “I didn’t have enough time to get too nervous. When I went out there, it was amazing. I could not even hear the audience I was so zoned into driving.”

    Members of the RUF/NEKS and the all-female spirit group Lil’ Sis take care of the Schooner and its ponies, and they take turns driving it during the game.

    Members of the Oklahoma spirit groups drive the Sooner Schooner after a touchdown against Missouri during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Norman, Okla.

    Alonzo Adams / AP


    First introduced in 1964, the Sooner Schooner is pulled across the field before the game and after Oklahoma scores by matching white ponies named “Boomer” and “Sooner.”

    Because the scaled-down Conestoga wagon is reminiscent of those pioneers used while settling Oklahoma Territory in the late 1800s, Howard acknowledged that some see the Schooner mascot as a symbol of oppression against Native people. But she said to her, driving the wagon represents taking ownership of that symbol.

    “I know that for me, it’s a representation of taking back something that was used to oppress my people and my culture, and now that I’m in charge, it’s giving us the power,” she said. “Not everyone’s going to see it that way, and that’s OK.”

    Jack Roehm, a senior at OU and president of the RUF/NEKS, drove the Schooner during Saturday’s game against Missouri and described the Sooner Schooner tradition as one of college football’s most unusual.

    “It’s a historic tradition after every score having the ponies run across the field,” Roehm said. “There’s nothing like it in college football.”

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