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.
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.”
Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.”
In the past eight weeks, UCF and Oklahoma State have combined for just one win.
This week may be both teams’ last chance for a victory this season when they clash in Orlando on Saturday.
The Cowboys (1-9, 0-7 Big 12) haven’t done much good this season as they fired long-time coach Mike Gundy in September and have yet to beat a FBS squad, dropping nine straight games. Oklahoma State is one of two teams in the bottom six nationally in scoring offense and scoring defense.
Oklahoma State had a promising outing last week against Kansas State, trailing 7-6 entering the fourth quarter. But Zane Flores threw two interceptions, including one in the fourth quarter when Oklahoma State was at the Kansas State 27, in what became a 14-6 loss.
‘You do all the things necessary to get down there and then you turn it over, you’re not going to beat too many teams doing that,’ said interim coach Doug Meacham on Monday. ‘ … But I’m proud on a lot of levels, about a lot of different things, and wish that we could find a way to break through.’
The Knights (4-6, 1-6) continued to struggle offensively in their 48-9 loss at No. 6 Texas Tech Saturday. UCF was held under 300 yards for the third straight game as the defense allowed a third consecutive 400-yard game.
Quarterback Tayven Jackson struggled, passing for just 178 yards, the fifth time in his last six games he’s thrown for fewer than 200.
Backup Davi Belfort saw some game action, but mostly was used as a threat on the ground. He had 36 rushing yards against Houston two weeks ago and had four yards with no passes attempted against the Red Raiders.
Coach Scott Frost alluded that he may give Belfort more opportunities and use him more to mix UCF’s offense up.
‘Davi will continue to improve in everything he does as he gets more reps,’ Frost said Monday. ‘It hasn’t been completely fair to him to put him in the situation he’s in without having gotten a lot of reps over the course of this year … but Davi is capable of running our whole offense.’
The Knights beat the Cowboys the last time they matched up, a 45-3 romp in 2023.
J.K. Dobbins, your offensive MVP for Weeks 1-10, is lost for the season. You’re replacing those touches by committee from here on out. A dash of RJ Harvey. A smidgen of Jaleel McLaughlin, now your best downhill, between-the-tackles runner by default.
But might we humbly suggest replacing a pinch of Tyler Badie with more pinches of Mims out of the backfield?
Or Mims out of the slot?
Or Mims out of anywhere?
You can fake a run game over the last seven games of the regular season. You know when you can’t fake it? Against Buffalo or Baltimore in mid-January. Even at home with 80,000 Broncomaniacs at your back, screaming to Mile High Heaven.
“(When) I get the ball. I want to make the most out of it,” Mims told me this past summer. “That’s something I pride myself in, is being an explosive playmaker.
“So being a ‘gadget’ guy is a good thing; when someone (ESPN) tells you you’re the NFL’s best at something. It’s something that you kind of raise your ears at … but, yeah, I mean, when I see ‘gadget’ (player) I think, ‘explosive playmaker.’ Whether it’s in the return game, offense, screen game, deep pass, give me the ball. I want to make the most out of it.”
Want to make the most of what’s left of this offense after the bye? Feature more of Mims in it.
The ex-Oklahoma star appeared on 15 snaps against the Chiefs — just 24% of the offensive plays. Fullback Adam Prentice (19 snaps) got more run with the first-team offense against Kansas City than Mims, a two-time Pro Bowl return man.
Yes, some of that was choosing discretion over valor. Mims can’t scare anybody from injured reserve. He’s coming off concussion protocol.
Although by the time the Broncos take the field at Washington on Nov. 30, he’ll be four weeks removed from the ding he took against Dallas on Oct. 26.
No skill player left at Payton’s disposal is as singularly explosive as Mims. And he reminded us all why against KC with another special-teams masterpiece — 101 punt return yards, a new single-game high, and the most by a Bronco since Trindon Holliday’s 121 in 2013. Mims’ 70-yard runback in the first quarter was another career best, putting the defending AFC champions on their heels at the Chiefs’ 21-yard line.
He’s averaging 11.0 yards per touch from scrimmage since he entered the league. Badie is averaging 7.0 yards. McLaughlin is averaging 4.6 yards. If you don’t want to trust your eyes, fine. Trust the math.
Payton knows how to do quirky, how to improvise when injuries wreck his best-laid plans. In New Orleans, he made Taysom Hill the archetype modern “gadget” weapon. The former BYU star became a 6-foot-2 utility piece. From 2019-2023, Hill bounced between tight end, receiver and quarterback, depending on whatever Sean had cooked up. Hill recorded five straight seasons with Payton in which he threw at least six passes, ran the ball at least 27 times, and picked up at least four receptions. Over those years, Hill averaged 456.8 passing yards, 392.6 rushing yards and 150.4 receiving yards per season.
Payton is the NFL’s Baron Frankenstein, the mind of a mad scientist merged with Bill Parcell’s crusty soul. So why does it feel as if the only guy who can truly stop Mims with a head of steam in the open field is his own head coach?
“For me, it’s like a daily race,” Mims continued. “Just going in every day, working hard. Because with me, I’m a big person (about) wasting time. I hate wasting time. I hate when someone wastes my time.”
“That sounds like your boss,” I said.
“If I’m going to go in there and I’m going to lift, I’m going to practice, I’m going to go ahead and give (it) my all,” he continued. “Because at the end of the day, if I’m not giving my all, I’m wasting my own time. What am I even doing here? So that’s been a big thing for me. So I don’t really do goals — just every day, every second, I just want to do the right thing. And then, from that point on, you’ll reap what you sow.”
This team is on the brink of sowing something special. What good is a killer gadget if you leave it on your tool belt every Sunday?
Georgia moved up one spot to No. 4 in The Associated Press poll Sunday, Oklahoma returned to the top 10 and North Texas, ranked for the first time since 1959, is among three Group of Five teams in the Top 25.
Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M were the top three teams for the fifth straight week. Georgia earned its highest ranking since the first week of September and Mississippi was back in the top five after spending three weeks there at midseason.
Oregon and Texas Tech were tied for No. 6, and Oklahoma rose three spots to No. 8 following its win at Alabama. The Sooners were last in the top 10, at No. 6, the second week of October.
Notre Dame remained No. 9 after a 22-point win at Pittsburgh and Alabama dropped six spots to No. 10 after the Sooners ended its eight-game win streak.
Georgia’s 35-10 win over Texas was its sixth straight and second over a top-10 opponent. Mississippi, which lost at Georgia a month ago, defeated Florida and is more than 100 points behind the Bulldogs at No. 5.
The Group of Five hadn’t had three teams in the Top 25 since four appeared in last season’s final poll.
The Sun Belt Conference’s James Madison blew out Appalachian State and moved up three spots to No. 21. North Texas is next at No. 22. The Mean Green of the American Conference clobbered UAB 53-24 on the road and have matched their best start in program history.
The last time UNT was 9-1 was in 1959, when the team then known as the Eagles was ranked two straight weeks in November, reaching No. 16. That team lost to New Mexico State in the Sun Bowl to finish 9-2. This year’s UNT team already is eligible for a second straight bowl game and is in the thick of the race for the Group of Five’s automatic CFP bid.
Mississippi running back Kewan Lacy (5) evades a tackle attempt by Florida cornerback Cormani McClain and safety Jordan Castell during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Oxford, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Mississippi running back Kewan Lacy (5) evades a tackle attempt by Florida cornerback Cormani McClain and safety Jordan Castell during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Oxford, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In and out
— No. 22 North Texas’ first appearance in the poll in 66 years ends the longest drought by a Bowl Subdivision team.
— No. 23 Missouri returned after a one-week absence following a win over Mississippi State in which Ahmad Hardy became the first player since 2022 to rush for 300 yards.
— No. 24 Tulane has won two straight since losing to UTSA and is ranked for the first time this season.
— No. 25 Houston, fifth among teams also receiving votes last week and idle, were ranked for one week in October.
Louisville (19), Cincinnati (22), Pittsburgh (23) and South Florida (25) dropped out.
Poll points
— Voters did what the CFP selection committee did last week, jumping Miami over Georgia Tech to make the Hurricanes the highest-ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team. Miami easily beat North Carolina State and moved up two spots to No. 14. Georgia Tech, which needed a field goal in the final seconds to edge one-win Boston College, slipped a spot to No. 15.
— No. 13 Utah has outscored three opponents by a combined 153-49 since losing at BYU and has its highest ranking of the season.
— No. 17 Texas took the biggest plunge, dropping seven spots.
Conference call
SEC (9): Nos. 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 17, 20, 23.
Big Ten (5): Nos. 1, 2, T-6, 16, 18.
Big 12 (4): Nos. T-6, 11, 13, 25.
ACC (3): Nos. 14, 15, 19.
American (2): Nos. 22, 24.
Sun Belt (1): No. 21.
Independent (1): No. 9.
North Texas offensive lineman Tay Yanta II (70) and North Texas linebacker Shane Whitter (7) lead the team onto the field before an NCAA college football game against South Florida Oct. 10, 2025, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)
North Texas offensive lineman Tay Yanta II (70) and North Texas linebacker Shane Whitter (7) lead the team onto the field before an NCAA college football game against South Florida Oct. 10, 2025, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 16 Southern California (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten, No. 17 CFP) at No. 6 Oregon (9-1, 6-1, No. 8 CFP): Winner strengthens its position for a CFP at-large bid and keeps alive slim hopes of sneaking into the Big Ten championship game.
No. 23 Missouri (7-3, 3-3 SEC) at No. 8 Oklahoma (8-2, 4-2, No. 11 CFP): Sooners did wonders for their playoff resume by knocking off Alabama on the road and now go for a fifth win over a Top 25 opponent.
The guys at the sheriff’s office call her a cool dude with long hair because, they say, she’s meaner than any of them — on the gun range and in the field. Her name is Lt. Dakota Black. She’s a trained tracker and detective with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Lt. Dakota Black: I go out to scenes when there’s manhunts or trying to locate individuals.
Her specialty is finding the missing — whether alive or dead.
Lt. Dakota Black: I have found them underneath piles of leaves. … In trees and abandoned homes, sheds … I’ve found them pretty much in any area you can think of.
Often by her side, her partner, Deputy Haven, a trained therapy dog. For kids and other family members caught in the crossfire of tragedy, Haven provides comfort and consolation — a consoling presence she herself would rely on in the coming months as she embarked on one of the most heart-wrenching cases of her career.
Lt. Dakota Black: This case will stay with me forever. And it will be one that I always remember through my whole life … Because of how cruel it was.
The Search for Makayla Meave
Andria Meave: The last thing we said to each other, was “I love you.”
Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, began like most days for Andria Meave: with a 7 a.m. phone call from her best friend and younger sister, Makayla.
Andria Meave: I wish I would’ve known I would’ve said so much more. … I’m grateful for that. At least I said, “I love you.”
The next morning, Saturday the 16th, the phone rang as usual around 7 a.m. —only this time, it wasn’t Makayla. It was Makayla’s husband, Frank Byers.
Andria Meave: He’s hysterical, crying, screaming, can barely understand what he’s saying. And he says, Makayla didn’t come home last night. … Heended up telling me that Makayla went on a date the Friday night before with a bald man in a white truck … They left and she never came home last night.
Makayla Meave and Frank Byers on their wedding day.
Frank Byers Facebook
At the time, Makayla and Frank Byers were headed for divorce, says Andria Meave. They were still living on the same 10-acre property in Macomb, Oklahoma — but in separate homes. So, at first, Meave wasn’t worried.
Andria Meave: My first thought is she’s single. … I hope she had fun.
But Meave’s mood began to shift when her many calls to Makayla went to voicemail.
Andria Meave: By noon, I was worried. One o’clock, I was really worried.
Their mother, Barbara Harper, was also anxious. Makayla was supposed to help out at the family restaurant that afternoon. But she didn’t show and hadn’t called — unheard of for Makayla.
Barbara Harper: And the more I prayed about it, the more I realized that something serious had happened.
Frank Byers also reported Makayla missing to the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office that afternoon.
FRANK BYERS (to 911): … my wife’s been missing since late last night … she left … at 5:30ish, roughly 5:40, and the last time that anyone has heard from her has been at 8:00 p.m.
911 OPERATOR: … And your name?
FRANK BYERS: My name is Frank Byers, B-Y-E-R-S.
911 OPERATOR: … What’s her name?
FRANK BYERS: Her name is Makayla, uh, Byers …
The deputy on duty, Dustin Richardson, felt he needed to put eyes on the ground. He got to Macomb around 4 p.m. with his bodycam rolling.
Deputy Dustin Richardson: … he’d given me the information over the phone, but I just wanted to see where she was coming from and — and see more of the details.
Frank Byers made a point of showing the deputy the last Facebook message he said Makayla sent him after she left assuring him she was “fine…” and to “back off…”
Then he told him the story about Makayla driving off with a bald man in a white truck.
DEPUTY RICHARDSON (bodycam): Did you see the guy at all?
FRANK BYERS: … I would probably say, 6, 6’1″.
DEPUTY RICHARDSON: OK.
FRANK BYERS: He was completely bald and he had a beard. If I — If I had to guess a weight, I don’t know, maybe 200.
Richardson then asked if he could see the house where Makayla was temporarily living.
DEPUTY RICHARDSON (bodycam): Can I go take a look around?
FRANK BYERS: Yeah.
DEPUTY RICHARDSON: … So she’s been staying in this little old thing?
FRANK BYERS: Yeah … Yeah, so —
DEPUTY RICHARDSON: All locked up.
An image from bodycam video shows Frank Byers with Deputy Richardson outside the shed where Byers said Makayla Meave had been staying.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office
But the shed-like home was locked and Byers said he didn’t have a key. But he did have something to say about their relationship.
FRANK BYERS (bodycam video): … we have an open marriage where — well, that’s — that’s a brand-new thing I don’t like it, but um, I agreed upon it cause I’m trying to fix our marriage …
At that point, the deputy decided to take a quick drive to the school where Makayla worked as a teacher’s aide. Maybe she had gone there.
ANOTHER DEPUTY (on phone): What’s up?
DEPUTY RICHARDSON: Man. This uh Frank Byers called in saying his uh wife was missing …
He called his son, also a deputy, from the car.
DEPUTY RICHARDSON (bodycam): … this guy is squirrelly man, this Frank guy is squirrelly …
Deputy Dustin Richardson: The sensation was that there is nothing about the story that is really true.
While the deputy was at the school, friends and family started showing up at the property, including Makayla’s mom, Barbara Harper.
Barbara Harper: When I first got there … I didn’t even speak to anyone.
Barbara Harper: I was on my hands and knees crawling through brush out in the pasture. … we’ve got to find where she’s at.
With his body camera rolling, Richardson returned to the property late that afternoon. Byers had smashed open the lock to Makayla’s place with a hammer.
Deputy Dustin Richardson: I looked and I … I immediately saw empty, uh, shell casings from what appeared to be 22 caliber …
Deputy Dustin Richardson: … he told me that she sits in there and shoots out at animals … the coyotes and stuff.
FRANK BYERS (bodycam): There’s a few times I’ve heard her shoot …
By then, more deputies had arrived.
Deputy Dustin Richardson: I had asked him where she … kept that gun. And he said it was in his house.
DEPUTY RICHARDSON (bodycam): Is it in there now?
Deputy Dustin Richardson: I had him walk me to his house and he walked inside … and he pointed at it … I had, uh, pulled it from where it was in there … and put it in my vehicle.
FRANK BYERS (bodycam): … treat it like always.
The gun, according to the deputy, appeared to have been recently fired.
Deputy Dustin Richardson: I, uh, made phone calls to, uh, get our criminal investigation team out there because I just — it was off that there was something that needed to be looked into more.
DEPUTY RICHARDSON (bodycam): Hey, I’m on that – I’m on that missing person thing still… This is suspicious as f***.
Investigators ushered family and friends off the property and blocked the driveway.
Barbara Harper (crying): I remember walking back to my car and just screaming at God, asking him, “why, why did you do this, let this happen? Just take me, take me, and let us find her and just take me.”
The missing person’s investigation was now a possible criminal investigation, and that’s when the call went out to lead detective Lieutenant Dakota Black.
Lt. Dakota Black: We definitely needed … to figure out what was going on.
A Mother’s Intuition
As soon as Lt. Dakota Black got the call that Makayla Meave was missing, she jumped in her vehicle and sped to Macomb.
Peter Van Sant: What was your immediate mission?
Lt. Dakota Black: To locate Makayla. We — we needed to locate her. We didn’t know where she was.
Detective Black and her partner on the case – Detective Marcus May—now the undersheriff—put out a BOLO alert: be on the lookout.
Det. Marcus May: It was “be on the lookout for a … white male with a beard, bald head, driving a white truck” … we wanted … all of the local law enforcement and surrounding agencies aware that, that we do have a situation developing over here.
The tips from this rural area, where everyone seems to know everybody, came pouring in.
Lt. Dakota Black: Every white pickup truck with tinted windows was getting called in to the sheriff’s office.
None of the sightings panned out but the search took on a life of its own.
Lt. Dakota Black: Flyers were posted everywhere. Social media ads were everywhere.
Det. Marcus May: Makayla Meave was beloved by everybody. … they were demanding every resource possible … to go find Makayla.
Peter Van Sant: Dakota, this was a, uh, a woman with enormous heart. Right?
Lt. Dakota Black: Absolutely. … She loved her family. She loved her friends. … she loved children.
Makayla Meave, right, with her sister Andria and mother Barbara Harper.
Andria Meave
Makayla fell in love with children when she herself was still a child. Her mom ran a daycare.
Barbara Harper: We weren’t just a daycare. We were the family, and she loved those kids, especially the babies (laughs).
Sadly, Makayla was unable to have children of her own. But that didn’t stop her. In her 20s, Makayla fostered and would eventually adopt two kids — a brother and sister.
Andria Meave: She dropped what she was doing, went took — and took classes, got certified to make sure that she could give those kids a home. … She did.
Around that time, an old high school classmate named Frank Byers contacted her out of the blue through Facebook. Byers, who was divorced, had primary custody of four young daughters.
Frank Byers
Frank Byers Facebook
Andria Meave: Frank was telling her a story that the current girlfriend he was living with was abusing his four daughters … so my sister took him and all four girls in and just started basically taking care of them.
Barbara Harper: She felt like the kids needed her and she sure needed them. … probably the happiest I’d seen her in a long time with those girls.
Frank and Makayla got married in 2022. They built their lives together in Macomb – population 24.
Barbara Harper: It’s just country. It’s 100 percent country. The kids are 100 percent country.
Makayla was going to college to get her teaching degree while working at the local elementary school.
Barbara Harper: And she would stand up for the kids. And — and if she saw a child that was dirty or wasn’t taken care of, she would take it to the principal and, you know, bring awareness to it.
Andria Meave: I think that was her biggest thing in life was to help little innocent kids that needed adult help. She always felt responsible to do that.
Countywide, dozens of people turned out in the cold and pouring rain to slog through mud and tick-infested woods in search of their beloved teacher. But one person at the heart of this mystery conspicuously appeared notto search: Makayla’s husband, Frank Byers.
Lt. Dakota Black: He never participated in a single search. He never volunteered to go out with any of the search parties, to go out and try to find Makayla.
Andria Meave: It wasn’t like, oh, my God, my wife is missing. He never seemed like concerned about that. He seemed more concerned about himself.
Peter Van Sant: What were you noticing about Frank Byers?
Det. Marcus May: The — the lack of any … human emotion … I mean he — he did not seem scared. … He just wanted to know what we knew. He – he just didn’t seem human at all.
Investigators were already zeroing in on Frank Byers.
Det. Marcus May: We strongly suspected Frank.
Three days after Makayla was reported missing, Frank Byers agreed to be questioned by Black at the sheriff’s office. The interview was audio only.
FRANK BYERS (interview with detectives): At this time I just want her found …
The detective tried to win his trust by playing the good cop.
DET. BLACK: Again, I couldn’t imagine. I mean it’s hard not knowing, you know. And when everybody’s pointing a finger at you I’m sure it doesn’t make it any better.
FRANK BYERS: Yeah.
FRANK BYERS: … I feel like I got to defend myself and tell everyone that no, this is what happened, this is the truth.
She pressed him but not enough to make him stop talking.
DET. BLACK: Did you ask her about the date before she left?
FRANK BYERS: Yes, I did. And uh, she told me it was none of my business. Same thing as if I went on a date, it’s none of her business.
DET. BLACK: OK, so she never said a name or anything?
FRANK BYERS: No. She —
DET. BLACK: How she met him, how she knew him?
FRANK BYERS: No…
After answering questions for two-and-a-half hours, Black let him go home. The search for Makayla continued. Harper remembers crawling through brush wearing snake protectors when she says she had a premonition.
Barbara Harper: I heard Makayla tell me, mama I’m in a tin horn. … I said, oh my God, she just told me she’s in a tinhorn.
Harper frantically started looking for tinhorns — pipes or culverts used to divert water under roads — but there was no sign of Makayla. Then came the call to 911 on day five that would prove her mother’s intuition was right.
911 CALLER: … ma’am I don’t know exactly where I’m at, but I’m on Hamilton Road. I was searching with my friend for my cousin that’s missing, Makayla Meave.
DISPATCHER: Mm-hmm.
911 CALLER: And I think that we just found her.
A Devastating Discovery
The chatter of locusts permeated the air, an eerie sense of foreboding. Makayla Meave had been missing for five days.
Andria Meave: I got a phone call from my friend, and she said, I need you to sit down … And she said they found someone and it’s a female … And I’m like, is she dead or alive?
Earlier that day, a cousin and her friend had been out searching about half a mile from Makayla’s house when they were stopped in their tracks by a strong, sickening odor. The friend followed the intense smell down a ditch to a tinhorn. He saw something sticking out. It was a hand.
911 CALLER: … I was searching with my friend for my cousin that’s missing, Makayla Meave.
DISPATCHER: Mm-hmm.
911 CALLER: And I think that we just found her.
It was the call Detective Dakota Black had been dreading.
Lt. Dakota Black: It was devastating to everybody I mean it was absolutely terrible.
The tinhorn — a culvert used to divert water under roads — where Makayla Meave’s body was discovered wrapped in a carpet.
CBS News
Just as Barbara Harper had imagined, Makayla was in a large drainage pipe beneath the road.
Lt. Dakota Black: She had been drug into the middle area and she was wrapped in a carpet. … Uh, she had one sock on her foot that had teddy bears on it and her shirt was actually pulled up over her face to cover it. .. I mean it was hard. It was really hard.
Detective Black wouldn’t leave Makayla’s side. The two women had been born one day apart in the same year. But that wasn’t their only bond.
Lt. Dakota Black: I did feel a connection with Makayla… I have a history also. … you know I’ve been in bad relationships … It could have been me. (emotional) … On more than one occasion. … I just got lucky …
While the detectives were working the scene, Makayla’s family gathered just up the road.
Lt. Dakota Black: You could hear, hear them crying up there and they were trying to come down here where she was.
But the crime scene was blocked off.
BARBARA HARPER (bodycam): Can we see her? I can verify. Please?
Barbara Harper: I never once doubted that it was her.
Makayla Meave’s mother Barbara Harper arrives at the crime scene. “I just needed to be with her,” she said.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office
OFFICER (bodycam): … if anyone goes through the tape without permission, they immediately go to jail, I – I don’t know what to tell you I’m sorry.
BARBARA HARPER: Can you tell them we’re here?
OFFICER: Of course. Of course.
Barbara Harper: I felt like I needed to see her because she had been out there for five days without me. And I just needed to be with her and they wouldn’t let me.” (crying) … she needed me and I wasn’t there.
Makayla’s remains were placed in the coroner’s van for the journey to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Andria Meave: My mom and I both realized that it was probably her in there and that we would never be able to, like, hold her and hug her again, my mom started to chase the van. (crying)
Barbara Harper: I just followed it down the road, just as fast as I could … And somebody hollered at me and asked me what I was doing and I said, “my — my baby is in that van.” (crying)
Detective Black was so angry, she had to hold herself back.
Lt. Dakota Black: I wanted to leave that night and go and arrest Frank. But I knew … um … it’s better to move thoroughly than to act quick.
The two investigators had already begun building a strong circumstantial case against Frank Byers — the bullet casings in her home, his unlikely story that Makayla agreed to an open marriageand left with a bald man in a white truck.
FRANK BYERS (bodycam): Uh, she embraced the guy in a hug, and then they got in the truck and left …
Peter Van Sant: When you ask Makayla’s family about this open relationship … what’d they say?
Lt. Dakota Black: Absolutely not. They said there was absolutely no possible way that Makayla would’ve ever done that …
Investigators learned from interviews and from Frank Byers’ own social media accounts that he was the one who was cheating.
Andria Meave: Frank Byers is the biggest cheater. … He was cheating on her as soon as he moved in … Every time he would go out of town, he was creating dating profiles.
Frank Byers worked for an environmental cleanup company cleaning up hazardous materials. He spent a lot of time on the road.
Lt. Dakota Black: He would meet women at gas stations, he would meet up with them at hotel rooms … He would text them while he was home with Makayla and hide it from her.
Det. Marcus May: He was communicating … with females … the day Maykala was murdered … and immediately afterwards.
Andria Meave: He was sending pictures to women the day of her funeral asking, how do I look in my tux?
Byers’ cheating got so bad, Makayla moved out about three months before her murder.
Andria Meave: She packed a bag and she came and stayed with me for a week. … I held her where she cried every night. … She felt like a failure.
But Makayla’s love for the little girls kept drawing her back, says Andria Meave.
Makayla went back to the 10-acre property, but not to Byers. She temporarily moved into that little structure behind his to stay close to the girls. Byers tried to win her back, promising to change. But the cheating continued. Detective Black would later discover this conversation in which Makayla told Byers she was done:
MAKAYLA MEAVE: I’ve never once been dead set for divorce until today.
FRANK BYERS: You …
MAKAYLA MEAVE: … I’m just saying you have officially lost me …
Makayla recorded it two days before her murder.
Black believes she recorded it to expose Byers’ infidelity.
MAKAYLA MEAVE: … I’m stating to you right now that you have officially broke the last string that was holding me to you.
FRANK BYERS: OK.
MAKAYLA MEAVE: And you have nobody to blame but yourself for doing it.
That Friday, September 15, Makayla returned from work to pick up her things and leave for good. But Frank Byers, it seemed, had other plans. Detectives would later recover these images captured on a home security camera on his phone.
Detective Black believes he thought he had deleted them.
A home security camera photo of Makayla Meave, right, seen walking through the front door of the home she once shared with Frank Byers, on the day of her murder.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office
Peter Van Sant: Where is Makayla in this picture?
Lt. Dakota Black: This is Frank’s home and she’s coming through the front door.
Makayla stayed for 14 minutes. The detective believes they were arguing.
The last picture of the series is Frank Byers standing at the door of his home.
Peter Van Sant: What do you believe happened after this last photograph was taken?
Lt. Dakota Black: I think this is when he exited his home and went to her home and killed her. I think this is when he killed Makayla, within minutes.
Makayla was shot in the head.
Lt. Dakota Black: Makayla had a gunshot wound right here in the front. She had one on the left side and then she had a graze wound on the same side.
Peter Van Sant: The last image she may have seen on this earth was her own husband holding a rifle, and then the shot fired.
Lt. Dakota Black: Yes.
Profile of a Murderer
It started as a simmering anger and grew into a raging fury. People wanted to know why Frank Byers was still walking free.
Det. Marcus May:The most difficult part was knowing that we were accumulating evidence to Frank’s guilt and Makayla’s murder, but we were unable to release that or share that with the public …
Lt. Dakota Black: We knew Frank was guilty. We knew Frank was not a good husband. We knew Frank was lying. … We knew lots of things, but we couldn’t prove everything, and I wanted to prove everything to make sure he stayed in jail.
Lt. Dakota Black, a tracker and detective with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and her partner, Deputy Haven, a trained therapy dog.
CBS News
Detective Black spent 18-hour days at the office with her sidekick Haven – the therapy dog now there for her.
Peter Van Sant: Give me a sense, emotionally, how tough this was for you?
Lt. Dakota Black: It was tough mentally. I was drained. I was mentally exhausted. … I had lost weight. I was tired, but I was not gonna to go home … until this case was solved.
Byers used the time to defend himself on social media. “… I am innocent, And everything will come out.”
He also appeared on local news.
FRANK BYERS (local news report): Even today, I called her. I mean, I know she’s not here, but it’s just the fact that I have her number still and her phone’s still on somewheres. And, uh, it just, it would’ve been nice to hear her voice …
Many in the community tuned in to watch Byers’ interview, including Lt. Dakota Black.
Peter Van Sant: Did it make you angry?
Lt. Dakota Black: It did make me angry. It was sickening to see that a beautiful woman was gone from the world, and that while he’s on TV, professing his innocence, he’s … still in communication with other women, trying to have intimate relationships with them.
Black tracked down scores of these women. Crystal Cantrell was Byers’ girlfriend before he met Makayla.
Crystal Cantrell: He is very good at making you believe him … And then he’s kind of like a snake. Once he gets you in there, he bites you.
Black learned Byers wooed Cantrell the same way he wooed Makayla — with a false story that his daughters were being mistreated by his current girlfriend. And like Makayla, Cantrell had a soft heart.
Crystal Cantrell: I love kids. You know, I have kids of my own. So, I just felt really bad for them.
Shortly after they moved in together, Cantrell says Byers started to show his true colors. He isolated her from friends and family and controlled her every move. They fought. One night, she woke up to see him looming over her clutching a pair of handcuffs.
Crystal Cantrell: I closed them so he couldn’t use them on me. And then … after that he just got on my back and was choking me. He had wrapped his arms around me and had his hand on my throat and he just didn’t let go.
Cantrell was able to get away but was too afraid to report the incident to the police. She left Byers for good but says it could have been her in that ditch.
Crystal Cantrell: He would’ve killed me.
If Byers ever harmed Makayla, she never told her mom and sister. Sometimes they saw bruises, but Makayla always said they were just from rough housing with the kids.
Andria Meave: I think if I think about it too much is where I will go down a dark hole and not come out because I did see the bruises and I just chose to believe and not question. And then maybe if I would’ve questioned, it would come out differently.
Bit by bit, Black and her team built a profile of a murderer.
Lt. Dakota Black: So, this photo was taken at Walmart …
Using the date on a Walmart receipt found on Frank’s property, the detective was able to track down a security camera photo.
Frank Byers seen in a Walmart security image buying bleach, ammonia and a mop on Sept. 16, 2023.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office
Peter Van Sant: What’s in the cart?
Lt. Dakota Black: There is bleach, ammonia, and a mop.
Peter Van Sant: And mop, ammonia, and bleach equals what in your mind as an investigator?
Lt. Dakota Black: Crime scene cleanup.
They were also able to match the carpet in the ditch to one a neighbor had given Byers and Makayla for their dogs.
DET MARCUS MAY (bodycam): … you, you gave them that carpet about eight or nine months ago? Was that…
NEIGHBOR: Yes…
Lt. Dakota Black: Frank took the carpet that was given to him by the neighbor and used that to roll Makayla’s body in.
They believe Byers killed Makayla around 4 p.m. and left her body in her home. He then picked up his girls after school and drove them around, returning home about 8 p.m. That’s when, the detectives believe, he started to move her body.
Det. Marcus May: The kids reported in interviews that once they returned home, that, that Frank … was outside most of the night. He — he wasn’t in his bed.
Black says there were fresh tire tracks leading to Makayla’s little house.
Lt. Dakota Black: We believe that the tire tracks actually came from a vehicle backing up to load her body, to take it to where she was located.
The detectives believe Byers drove Makayla’s body to the edge of the ditch, pulled her out, and then let her body topple the 12 to 15 feet to the creek bed. They believe Byers then climbed down and dragged her into that pipe underneath the roadway.
Once Byers got rid of the body, he concocted a plan to cover up his crime.
MAN (bodycam): So she took her phone with her?
FRANK BYERS: Yeah as far as I know she took her phone with her…
Remember, he told the deputy that Makayla had messaged him from her phone that evening, telling him “back off …” But investigators would later find Makayla’s phone in Frank’s bedroom.
Detective May confronted Frank in a second interview.
DETECTIVE MAY (interview): … So, I’m just trying to understand how, if she left with her phone and was communicating with you through her phone on Facebook, how that phone was in your bedroom? …
FRANK BYERS: I understand. Um, I mean, I — I don’t — I mean, I — I don’t have an explanation, honestly …
But investigators did have an explanation. Makayla had two phones – an iPhone and a Moto G phone. Byers had both of them.
Lt. Dakota Black: The Moto G phone was an old phone of Makayla’s that she hadn’t been using for quite some time.
Byers knew how to get into that old phone. so he switched the SIM card from her iPhone.
Peter Van Sant: Why does he do that?
Det. Marcus May: To gain full access to … all of her accounts.
Det. Marcus May: That’s how he was texting himself … pretending to be Makayla …And in fact, it was him the entire time.
The evidence was mounting but they were still waiting on two key pieces of evidence they had sent to the forensic lab for testing.
Lt. Dakota Black: I needed a smoking gun that I knew was not gonna let him out. I knew it was going to keep him there.
Peter Van Sant: What have you just unwrapped here?
Det. Marcus May: … what do we have here is the projectile recovered from the two-by-four inside Makayla’s bedroom.
In addition to the shell casings found on the floor in Makayla’s home, they later found a bullet – wrapped in what they believed was Makayla’s hair – embedded in the wall. They hoped it would test positive for Makayla’s DNA.
And then there were the boots.
Lt. Dakota Black: So these are Frank’s work boots. They were recovered … on the night of the missing person’s report, uh, from his bedroom.
Peter Van Sant: And what did you spot on these boots that was of interest?
Lt. Dakota Black: So we had found a substance that we believed could be blood, but he also works with lots of chemicals. So we were unsure if that would be something that got on there while he was at work.
Makayla Meave’s blood was found on Frank Byers’ work boots.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office
Thirty-eight days after Makayla went missing, they finally got the results. They weren’t able to get a genetic confirmation on the hair, but the boots were a different story. The substance on Byers’ boots wasblood — Makayla’s blood.
Lt. Dakota Black: As soon as we got that … we were like, we’re going right now.
Peter Van Sant: You had your man.
Det. Marcus May: We had our guy, yes.
Plea Deal was Cop Out, Says Victim’s Mother
Lt. Dakota Black: We were waiting for that arrest. … So it moved fast after that.
It was close to midnight, flashing police lights lit up the darkness. 38 days after Makayla Meave was reported missing, Lt. Black, Deputy Richardson and a special operations team moved in to arrest Frank Byers.
Lt. Dakota Black: Got with the SWAT team, organized the takedown and went in and got him.
Peter Van Sant: He thought he was smarter than everyone, but he was outsmarted, right?
Lt. Dakota Black: Yes. I think he was surprised.
Bodycam video shows Frank Byers the night of his arrest.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office
FRANK BYERS (bodycam): I swear I didn’t do it.
Black finally had Byers in her grasp and right where she wanted him — in handcuffs headed to jail. Detective May called Makayla’s family with the news.
Barbara Harper: That was a hallelujah moment, that was about time moment. … We couldn’t get her back, but we knew he wasn’t walking free anymore.
May says they were done with Byers’ lies and they confronted him with the hard evidence they’d taken weeks to gather.
DETECTIVE MAY (interrogation): Now is the opportunity to let us know what happened.
FRANK BYERS: I — I didn’t do it. I mean –
DETECTIVE MAY: Why was her blood on your boots?
FRANK BYERS: I mean, I can’t answer I mean, I — I — I don’t — I don’t know I mean, honestly.
Frank Byers was charged with first-degree murder. The D.A. was seeking the death penalty, but the defense requested a deal to save his life. 15 months after Byers’ arrest, he agreed to plead guilty and serve life without parole.
Makayla’s mom was bitterly disappointed.
Barbara Harper: I feel that the plea deal was a cop out. … The moment, the second that she took her last breath, he chose that and he got to choose what he got for punishment too, and that’s not OK. It’s not OK.”
The plea deal isn’t the only thing upsetting Harper. She doesn’t think Byers acted alone.
Peter Van Sant: You’re absolutely convinced that Frank had somebody help him.
Barbara Harper: I’ll go to my grave believing that.
Andria Meave: I think he had to have had an accomplice. … I don’t think that he could have moved her body on his own at all.
Peter Van Sant: Physically he could not have done it.
Andria Meave: No, I don’t believe so.
Lt. Dakota Black: I think we all agree that it would absolutely be difficult to move her, but people are scared, they can do amazing things.
Det. Marcus May: What they’re saying is not unreasonable. … If the evidence is presented to us one day that, that — uh — that suggests that … we will take it and we’ll run with it to its fullest extent.
Barbara Harper: I come and I sit and I look at that place down there … I went down and hung all kinds of crosses and different things.
Barbara Harper: He didn’t just take from us, he took from his own children someone that loved them, that put them first.
Lt. Dakota Black: It didn’t have to end this way. He could have let her leave. But he didn’t.
There’s cold justice for Makayla. For Detective Dakota Black, tracker, her painful work continues.
Barbara Harper: Makayla would want her life to mean something.
Harper is starting “Makayla’s Purple Butterfly” foundation to fight against domestic violence.
Andria Meave: … that was her goal, her mission in life, was when you see someone in need help them.
Barbara Harper has created “Makayla’s Purple Butterfly” foundation to fight against domestic violence – keeping with Makayla’s mission of wanting to help others.
CBS News
Andria Meave (at Makayla’s grave with her mother): When I think of Makayla, I think of sunflowers. I think of joy.
Barbara Harper: She would love that though, you know, she would with all those sunflowers. I sure miss her smile, her laugh, oh that laugh was something else.
Andria Meave: She was my best friend. … I strived for her to be proud of me because I looked up to her, even though she was the little sister.
Andria Meave: I still lay in bed and talk to her like she’s still right there. … I feel like she’s watching over us every day.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233
Produced by Liza Finley and Hannah Vair. David Dow is the development producer. Marlon Disla, Marcus Balsam, George Baluzy and Michael Baluzy are the editors. Megan Brown is the associate producer. Peter Schweitzer is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
An Oklahoma death row inmate was hospitalized Thursday after being found unresponsive in his cell, officials said, just hours after being granted clemency on the same day he was scheduled to be executed.
Forty-six-year-old Tremane Wood was granted clemency Thursday morning by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt. After that decision came down, Wood met with his attorneys for “several hours,” according to a statement from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. The agency said it then moved him off death row and into a new cell.
At some point, a correctional officer found Wood “unresponsive” in his new cell, the department said, and prison staff determined that he had “experienced a medical event that resulted in injuries.”
This Feb. 9, 2023, photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Tremane Wood.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP
Wood was taken to a nearby hospital “out of extreme caution,” where doctors found that his “medical event” was due to “dehydration and stress,” the department said.
Following the incident, Wood also took part in a phone call with ODOC spokesperson Kay Thompson, the department said, in which he told her that he couldn’t “really explain what happened.”
He allegedly told Thompson that he had laid down to sleep and “must have rolled off his bunk,” disclosing that the next thing he remembered was waking “up in the infirmary” with “[his] head busted and [his] lip busted,” according to the department.
“He also confirmed that no one else was in his cell at the time of the medical event and that he did not do anything intentionally to cause it,” the department said in its news release.
In the phone call, Wood allegedly indicated to Thompson that he had not eaten or drank anything since Wednesday evening, the department added.
He was discharged from the hospital and returned to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, where he spoke with his family and a spiritual adviser, the department said.
When reached by CBS News early Friday morning, Amanda Bass Castro Alves, an attorney for Wood, was unable to comment on his medical condition.
“I’m extremely proud of my team today,” ODOC Executive Director Justin Farris said in a statement. “It is our statutory duty to carry out court-ordered sentences, and our staff always perform their duties with extreme professionalism and with the utmost respect and compassion. Today’s events highlight the tremendous job they do day in and day out, especially during high-profile events.”
Wood had been sentenced to death after being convicted, along with his brother Zjaiton Wood, in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker from Montana, during a botched robbery at an Oklahoma City hotel.
Zjaiton Wood was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He died in 2019.
Tremane Wood and his attorneys, however, had always maintained that while he was involved in the robbery, he did not carry out the slaying, arguing that the murder was committed by Zjaiton Wood alone.
Last week, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended clemency for Tremane Wood.
“After a thorough review of the facts and prayerful consideration, I have chosen to accept the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation to commute Tremane Wood’s sentence to life without parole,” Stitt said in a statement Thursday morning. “This action reflects the same punishment his brother received for their murder of an innocent young man and ensures a severe punishment that keeps a violent offender off the streets forever.”
This marked Stitt’s second clemency since taking office. Tremane Wood is also the sixth condemned person to receive clemency in the state in the modern history of capital punishment.
A chemical spill left dozens hospitalized and forced hundreds to evacuate from a western Oklahoma city on Wednesday night, according to local authorities and the CBS affiliate station KWTV.
The incident occurred around 10 p.m. local time in Weatherford, Oklahoma, where a semi-truck began leaking ammonia, which is toxic, KWTV reported, citing officials.
Southwest Oklahoma State University also confirmed that the leak involved “anhydrous ammonia” in a statement announcing that in-person classes would be canceled Thursday.
“First responders on scene have recommended that all students in SWOSU on-campus housing shelter in place due to the fumes. Students in residence halls should remain indoors, keep windows and doors closed,” the university said.
Weatherford Public Schools announced closures throughout the district as well.
A public safety notice issued by police Thursday morning asked residents of certain Weatherford neighborhoods to shelter in place until further notice “due to an accidental chemical release.”
“Residents in this area are encouraged to turn off their AC/Heating systems to prevent the chemicals from entering their home,” the notice said. “Businesses in this area should remain closed.”
Earlier, an emergency alert sent out within an hour of the chemical spill said a “partial evacuation” was underway because of a chemical spill at at a Holiday Inn Express in the area, KWTV reported.
“If you are having medical symptoms, call 911, or medical personnel located at Ace Hardware,” the alert said.
Ammonia is a clear, foul-smelling gas or liquid that occurs naturally but is also commonly used in fertilizers and pharmaceutical products, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Exposure to normal amounts of ammonia do not harm humans, although higher levels can hurt the eyes, skin, throat and lungs, potentially causing coughing and burns, the health agency says.
Holly Hill, a third-grade teacher and mother of three, passed away two years after allegedly consuming a drink laced with industrial cleaner at a restaurant.
More Details On The Oklahoma Teacher Allegedly Consuming Drink Laced With Industrial Cleaner At Restaurant
According to the New York Post, in 2023, Holly Hill was reportedly served a margarita. This, while dining at Hacienda Las Margaritas Bar & Grill on Valentine’s Day. Per her mother, Kelly Hunter, Holly’s “mouth was on fire, and she knew something wasn’t right.” Furthermore, Holly reportedly “jumped up and ran to the bathroom, started throwing up, started rinsing her mouth out with water.”
Ultimately, the ordeal reportedly left her with “a hole in her esophagus.” The Daily Mail notes that the substance Hill consumed was found to be “industrial-strength degreaser.”
“For the past two and a half years, while continuing to teach and care for her family, Holly faced a long and difficult medical journey,” her obituary reportedly reads.
Daily Mail adds that afterward, Hill made “multiple trips” to emergency rooms for treatment for the “severe chemical burns in her esophagus.” Per her mother, Hill sued the restaurant for her injuries and reached a confidential settlement.
More On The Death Of Holly Hill
On October 1, Holly Hill reportedly took to Facebook, sharing a photo of herself in a hospital bed amid her “30th surgery” on her esophagus.
“It’s been one year and seven-and-a-half months since I took one swallow of what I thought was my margarita,” she wrote, per Daily Mail. “To say it’s changed my life is an understatement. I continue to pray and believe in my doctor to lead the way through this never-ending journey that I now call life.”
Additionally, days before her passing on October 23, Hill was reportedly told that the hole in her esophagus was “a bit better and not as inflamed.” Amid this time, Hill was reportedly using a feeding tube. Additionally, she was instructed to return to the doctor for a “swallow test.” Upon her preparing to go in for the test, medical officials reportedly lost her pulse.
Now, per the New York Post, Oklahoma investigators are looking into Holly Hill’s case and death.
“The number one thing that we really want at this point, and out of this, is we want people to be aware of what happened at that restaurant and to quit supporting them. We want them to be held accountable for taking my daughter’s life, because they did. It might have been a long fight, but ultimately, they are the cause,” Kelly Hunter reportedly stated per Daily Mail.
Additionally, a GoFundMe has been launched to “support her family.”
The Restaurant At The Center Of Allegedly Serving Oklahoma Teacher Holly Hill A Drink Laced With Industrial Cleaner Releases Statement
On October 28, Hacienda Las Margaritas Bar & Grill released a statement. This, regarding the update on Holly Hill and her case via Facebook. In the statement, the restaurant asserted that the February incident was an “unfortunate and isolated event.”
“At that time, we took several steps to help prevent any recurrence… we implemented new staff training and procedural safeguards that remain in effect. The individuals involved in that 2023 incident were terminated and have not been employed by or associated with Las Margaritas. The civil matter relating to that incident was resolved earlier this year. Las Margaritas continues to welcome our patrons with care, responsibility, and attention to their wellbeing,” the statement added, in part.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas two years ago, high school teacher Josh Hirsch posted comments on social media in support of Israel. It was unrealistic for Hamas to expect a ceasefire, he wrote, as long as they were holding hostages.
Soon afterward, a former student called for his firing. A note taped outside the door of his Adams County, Colorado, classroom contained his wife’s name and their home address. And a sticker that appeared on his chair read: “Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”
The reaction startled Hirsch, the only Jewish teacher in his school building. For the first time in his 14-year career, he considered quitting. He stayed and joined an educators’ advocacy network created by the Anti-Defamation League, a way he saw to make schools more inclusive of diverse viewpoints.
“I’ve been a teacher and tried to keep my focus on being the best teacher I could,” he said.
Tensions over the Israel-Hamas war have spilled into schools around the U.S., with advocates reporting a rise in antisemitic harassment since the 2023 surprise attack on Israel. While some argue school leaders have failed to take the threat seriously, others warn criticism of Israel and the military campaign in Gaza are interpreted too often as hate speech.
The Trump administration has not punished school systems the way it has hit colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism, but schools are still facing pressure to respond more aggressively. Several states have pressed for new vigilance, including legislation that critics say would stifle free speech.
Both conservative and liberal states apply more scrutiny
Lawmakers in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee have passed measures to increase school accountability for complaints of antisemitism, and a law signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, will provide training to identify and prevent antisemitism in schools. In Arizona, the Democratic governor vetoed a bill on how to deal with reports of antisemitism in schools, calling it an attack on educators.
Many of the measures, including one signed by Oklahoma’s Republican governor, call for adoption of a definition of antisemitism that casts certain criticism of Israel as hate speech.
“These bills make it clear that Oklahoma stands with our Jewish communities and will not tolerate hatred disguised as political discourse,” said Kristen Thompson, a Republican state senator in Oklahoma who authored the legislation.
Dozens of states have adopted the definition promoted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which is also recognized by the U.S. State Department. It lists 11 examples of antisemitic conduct, such as applying “double standards” to Israel or comparing the country’s policies to Nazism.
While supporters of this definition of antisemitism say it is necessary to combat evolving forms of Jewish hate, civil liberties groups warn it suppresses pro-Palestinian speech.
Trump administration approach contrasts with attacks on colleges
The Trump administration has leveraged antisemitism investigations in its efforts to reshape higher education, suspending billions of dollars in federal funding to Harvard, Columbia and other universities over allegations they tolerated hate speech, especially during protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
The White House has not gotten as involved at the K-12 level. At congressional hearings, House Republicans have taken some large school systems to task over their handling of antisemitism, but the administration largely has left it to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights to address complaints.
In one of the cases under investigation, a complaint described students at the Berkeley Unified School District in California asking Jewish classmates what “their number is,” referring to numbers tattooed on Jews during the Holocaust. It also said teachers made antisemitic comments and led walkouts that praised Hamas.
The district did not respond to a request for comment.
In another California case, the family of a 14-year-old girl filed a federal lawsuit last year alleging she had to leave University Preparatory Academy, a charter school in San Jose, in 2023 because of antisemitic bullying. After the Hamas attack, she said students called her names, including “terrorist.” The California Department of Education and the school said they could not comment on pending litigation.
Nationwide, the ADL recorded 860 antisemitic incidents in non-Jewish schools last year, ranging from name-calling and swastikas etched on lockers to antisemitic materials being taught in classrooms. The number was down from over 1,100 recorded in 2023, but well above numbers in prior years, according to the ADL.
A Massachusetts state commission formed last year to combat antisemitism found it was a “pervasive and escalating problem” in schools.
At one meeting, a commission co-chair, Democratic state Rep. Simon Cataldo, said the Massachusetts Teachers Association was sharing antisemitic resources with teachers, including a kindergarten workbook that describes Zionists as “bullies” and an image of a Star of David made of dollar bills. The union said those were singled out among hundreds of images in art and posters about Palestinians, and links to those materials were removed.
The union said it has engaged in efforts to confront increases in both antisemitism and Islamophobia and accused the commission of “offensive political theater.”
“Those who manipulate antisemitism to achieve political objectives — such as undermining labor unions and public educators — are following the lead of the Trump administration,” the union said in a statement.
Margaret Litvin, an associate professor of Arabic and comparative literature at Boston University, said the commission was “deliberately conflating criticism of Israel with prejudice against Jews and bias against Jews.” That approach will be used to justify “heavy-handed” interference by the state in school district affairs, said Litvin, co-founder of the Boston-area Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff group.
Controversy reaches the biggest teachers union
The tension reached the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, which this summer weighed a proposal to drop ADL classroom materials that educators use to teach about the Holocaust and bias. Backers said the ADL had an outsize influence on school curricula and policy, with an underlying pro-Israel viewpoint.
Delegates at the union’s representative assembly narrowly voted to approve the proposal, but they were overruled by the NEA board of directors. Union President Becky Pringle said the proposal “would not further NEA’s commitment to academic freedom, our membership, or our goals.”
In the aftermath, the ADL invited K-12 educators to join a new network called BEACON: Building Educator Allies for Change, Openness, and Networks, which it said is intended to help educators learn from each other how to address and combat antisemitism and other forms of hate.
Hirsch, the teacher in Colorado, was among hundreds who expressed interest.
Some of the blowback he faced stemmed from his online commentary about local activist organizations. After donating money to Black Lives Matter groups and supporting them with a sign in his yard, he expressed feelings of betrayal to see the groups expressing support for Palestinians and not Israel.
He said he was surprised by the reaction to the posts in his predominantly Hispanic school community. A former debate coach, he aims through his work with the ADL network to help students share their opinions in constructive ways.
“If we’re giving them the opportunity to hate and we’re giving them the opportunity to make enemies of someone, it really is counterproductive to what we’re trying to do as a society,” he said.
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 on Wednesday to recommend the governor spare the life of a man scheduled to be executed next week for the 2001 stabbing death of a man during a botched robbery.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt must now consider whether to commute the death sentence of Tremane Wood, 46, to life in prison. Stitt has granted clemency only once during his nearly seven years in office, to death row inmate Julius Jones in 2021. He has rejected clemency recommendations in four other cases. A total of 16 men have been executed during Stitt’s time in office. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the board’s decision.
Wood is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week for his role in the killing of Ronnie Wipf, a 19-year-old migrant farmworker from Montana, during an attempted robbery at a north Oklahoma City hotel on New Year’s Eve in 2001.
Wood’s attorneys don’t deny that he participated in the robbery but maintain that his brother, Zjaiton Wood, was the one who actually stabbed Wipf. Zjaiton Wood, who received a no-parole life sentence for Wipf’s death and died in prison in 2019, admitted to several people that he killed Wipf, said Tremane Wood’s attorney, Amanda Bass Castro Alves.
Castro Alves said Tremane Wood had an ineffective trial attorney who was drinking heavily at the time and who did little work on the case. She also said trial prosecutors concealed from jurors benefits that witnesses received in exchange for their testimony.
“Tremane’s death sentence is the product of a fundamentally broken system,” Castro Alves said.
Prosecutors painted Wood as a dangerous criminal who has continued to participate in gang activity and commit crimes while in prison, including buying and selling drugs, using contraband cellphones and ordering attacks on other inmates.
“Even within the confines of maximum security prison, Tremane Wood has continued to manipulate, exploit and harm others,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said.
Wood, who testified to the panel via video link from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, accepted responsibility for his prison misconduct and his participation on the robbery, but denied being the one who killed Wipf.
“I’m not a monster. I’m not a killer. I never was and I never have been,” Wood said.
“Not a day goes by in my life that I do not think about Ronnie and how much his mom and dad are suffering because they don’t have their son any more.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Originally known as the food stamp program, it has existed since 1964, serving low-income people, many of whom have jobs but don’t make enough money to cover all the basic costs of living.
Public attention has focused on the program since President Donald Trump’s administration announced last week that it would freeze SNAP payments starting Nov. 1 in the midst of a monthlong federal government shutdown. The administration argued it wasn’t allowed to use a contingency fund with about $5 billion in it to help keep the program going. But on Friday, two federal judges ruled in separate challenges that the federal government must continue to fund SNAP, at least partially, using contingency funds. However, the federal government is expected to appeal, and the process to restart SNAP payments would likely take one to two weeks.
Here’s a look at how SNAP works.
There are income limits based on family size, expenses and whether households include someone who is elderly or has a disability.
Most SNAP participants are families with children, and more than 1 in 3 include older adults or someone with a disability.
Nearly 2 in 5 recipients are households where someone is employed.
Most participants have incomes below the poverty line, which is about $32,000 for a family of four, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, says nearly 16 million children received SNAP benefits in 2023.
People who are not in the country legally, and many immigrants who do have legal status, are not eligible. Many college students aren’t either, and some states have barred people with certain drug convictions.
Under a provision of Trump’s big tax and policy law that also takes effect Nov. 1, people who do not have disabilities, are between ages 18 and 64 and who do not have children under age 14 can receive benefits for only three months every three years if they’re not working. Otherwise, they must work, volunteer or participate in a work training program at least 80 hours a month.
How much do beneficiaries receive?
On average, the monthly benefit per household participating in SNAP over the past few years has been about $350, and the average benefit per person is about $190.
The benefit amount varies based on a family’s income and expenses. The designated amount is based on the concept that households should allocate 30% of their remaining income after essential expenses to food.
Families can receive higher amounts if they pay child support, have monthly medical expenses exceeding $35 or pay a higher portion of their income on housing.
The cost of benefits and half the cost of running the program is paid by the federal government using tax dollars.
States pay the rest of the administrative costs and run the program.
People apply for SNAP through a state or county social service agency or through a nonprofit that helps people with applications. In some states, SNAP is known by another, state-specific name. For instance, it’s FoodShare in Wisconsin and CalFresh in California.
The benefits are delivered through electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards that work essentially like a bank debit card. Besides SNAP, it’s where money is loaded for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program, which provides cash assistance for low-income families with children, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
The card is swiped or inserted in a store’s card reader at checkout, and the cardholder enters their PIN to pay for food. The cost of the food is deducted from the person’s SNAP account balance.
SNAP benefits can only be used for food at participating stores — mostly groceries, supermarkets, discount retail stores, convenience stores and farmers markets. It also covers plants and seeds bought to grow your own food. However, hot foods — like restaurant meals — are not covered.
Most, but not all, food stores participate. The USDA provides a link on its website to a SNAP retail locator, allowing people to enter an address to get the closest retailers to them.
Items commonly found in a grocery and other participating stores that can’t be bought with SNAP benefits include pet food, household supplies like toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning products, and toiletries like toothpaste, shampoo and cosmetics. Vitamins, medicines, alcohol and tobacco products are also excluded.
Sales tax is not charged on items bought with SNAP benefits.
Are there any restrictions?
There aren’t additional restrictions today on which foods can be purchased with SNAP money.
But the federal government is allowing states to apply to limit which foods can be purchased with SNAP starting in 2026.
All of them will bar buying soft drinks, most say no to candy, and some block energy drinks.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Los Angeles 2028 organisers joined Oklahoma City officials on Monday to mark 1,000 days until the Olympic opening ceremony and said preparations are advancing to stage softball and canoe slalom events in the city as part of the Games.
LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman and CEO Reynold Hoover appeared with Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt and Team OKC President Michael Byrnes after a weekend of youth clinics and venue visits to the OKC Softball Park and the OKC Whitewater Center, which organisers say will host the Olympic softball tournament and canoe slalom competitions in 2028.
“The LA28 Olympic Games will bridge regions and communities from the Pacific coast in Los Angeles to the central plains of Oklahoma City,” Wasserman said.
Hoover said Oklahoma City’s role underscored a collaborative spirit as organisers look to use existing facilities for competitions outside the host metropolis.
“We are marking 1,000 days out from the LA28 Games, reflecting a nationwide celebration of sport,” he said.
Holt called Oklahoma City’s participation a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” that would “dramatically expand the reach of the Olympic experience,” noting that two sports across seven events are slated to be staged in the city.
The announcements were paired with an “LA28 Day of Sport” on Oct. 18 featuring clinics with Olympians and Paralympians, including five-times Paralympic champion Jeremy Campbell, gymnastics greats Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner, 1988 U.S. Olympian Kelly Garrison-Funderburk and U.S. softball silver medallist Michelle Moultrie.
Los Angeles is set to host the Olympics for a third time after 1932 and 1984 and will stage its first Paralympics.
The Olympics run from July 14-30, with the Paralympics scheduled for August 15-27.
Organisers have emphasised a plan to lean on existing venues across Southern California and in select partner cities to control costs and avoid new permanent construction.
Last month, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Holt signed a Memorandum of Understanding to coordinate planning between the two cities, organisers said.
Baseball/softball was among sports the International Olympic Committee approved for LA28, alongside cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash, while canoe slalom is part of the core programme.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris)
Under new leadership, the Oklahoma State Department of Education will rescind a mandate from the previous superintendent that forced public schools to place Bibles in classrooms and incorporate the book into lesson plans for students.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education plans to file a motion to dismiss pending lawsuits brought against the previous superintendent and his office in response to their plans to incorporate religion into public classrooms, the department said in a news release obtained by CBS affiliate KWTV. Their motion comes as the court seeks status updates to those cases amid what it described as “significant turnover among public officials named as respondents,” due to new department leadership, according to the release.
“We plan to file a motion to dismiss, and have no plans to distribute Bibles or a Biblical character education curriculum in classrooms,” said Superintendent Lindel Fields, who recently took over that role, in a statement. “If resources are left to be allocated, the timing is fortunate since the team and I are currently reviewing the budget.”
Last year, former Superintendent Ryan Walters issued a directive for Oklahoma public schools to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12, saying in the mandate that “immediate and strict compliance” was expected.
“The Bible is a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the country,” Walters said in a social media video shared at the time. “Every teacher, ever classroom in the state will have a Bible in the classroom, and will be teaching from the Bible.”
The mandate in Oklahoma was the latest in a series of efforts by conservative leaders to incorporate religion into classrooms and quickly drew condemnation from civil rights groups. A group of parents, teachers and religious leaders filed a lawsuit in response to the order, which is pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Walters resigned last month and accepted a job in the private sector, paving the way for Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt to appoint Fields as superintendent.
Ryan Walters speaks at a rally, Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City.
Sue Ogrocki / AP
Jacki Phelps, an attorney for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, said she intends to notify the court of the agency’s plan to rescind the mandate and seek a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they were encouraged by Fields’ decision and plan to discuss next steps with their clients.
“The attempts to promote religion in the classroom and the abuses of power that the Oklahoma State Department of Education engaged in under Walters’ tenure should never happen in Oklahoma or anywhere in the United States again,” the attorneys said in a statement.
Many schools districts across the state had decided not to comply with the Bible mandate.
A spokeswoman for the state education department, Tara Thompson, said Fields believes the decision on whether the Bible should be incorporated into classroom instruction is one best left up to individual districts and that spending money on Bibles is not the best use of taxpayer resources.
Walters in March had announced plans to team up with country music singer Lee Greenwood seeking donations to get Bibles into classrooms after a legislative panel rejected his $3 million request to fund the effort.
Walters, a far-right Republican, made fighting “woke ideology”, banning certain books from school libraries and getting rid of “radical leftists” who he claims were indoctrinating children in classrooms a focal point of his administration. Since his election in 2020, he imposed a number of mandates on public schools and worked to develop new social studies standards for K-12 public school students that included teaching about conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election. Those standards have been put on hold while a lawsuit challenging them moves forward.
Thompson said the agency plans to review all of Walters’ edicts, including a requirement that applicants from teacher jobs coming from California and New York take an ideology exam, to determine if those may also be rescinded.
“We need to review all of those mandates and provide clarity to schools moving forward,” she said.
The new superintendent of public schools in Oklahoma announced on Wednesday that he is scrapping a mandate imposed by his predecessor that forces schools to place Bibles in classrooms and incorporate Scripture into students’ lesson plans.
Why It Matters
The issue of Bibles in classrooms in Oklahoma has stirred national debate on the role of religion in public education and religious freedom. The decision by new state Superintendent of Public Instruction Lindel Fields to revoke the order represents a victory for supporters of secular public education.
The previous superintendent who imposed the mandate, Ryan Walters, drew condemnation from civil rights groups and triggered a lawsuit from a group of parents, teachers and religious leaders that is still before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
What To Know
“We…have no plans to distribute Bibles or Biblical character education curriculum in classrooms,” Fields said in a statement on Wednesday.
Fields’ predecessor, Walters, is a conservative Republican and staunch supporter of President Donald Trump who campaigned against what he saw as “woke” ideology and the influence of teachers’ unions in schools. He resigned at the end of last month to join a nonprofit with a focus on education.
In November, less than two weeks after Trump’s election victory, Walters announced that Oklahoma would be the first state in the nation to purchase more than 500 Bibles to be put into classrooms for students in fifth through 12th grades.
A group of Oklahoma parents, teachers and religious leaders challenged the mandate in the courts, arguing that it was unconstitutional, due to forcing Christian beliefs on public school students.
The groups that challenged Walters’ mandate in the courts, including Americans United, the American Civil Liberties Union Oklahoma, Freedom From Religion Foundation and Oklahoma Appleseed, welcomed Fields’ announcement.
“The attempts to promote religion in the classroom and the abuses of power that the Oklahoma State Department of Education engaged in under Walters’ tenure should never happen in Oklahoma or anywhere in the United States again,” they said in a joint statement.
Walters stirred more controversy shortly before resigning, with a plan to open a chapter of Turning Point USA—the conservative student organization co-founded by assassinated group CEO Charlie Kirk—in Oklahoma in every high school to resist “radical leftists … (who) push woke indoctrination.”
What People Are Saying
The groups opposed to Walters’ mandate, in their statement: “The promise of separation of church and state guaranteed by the U.S. and Oklahoma constitutions means that families and students – not politicians – get to decide when and how to engage with religion.”
Walters, in a post to X: “I could not be more disappointed in the decision to move away from empowering our teachers in Oklahoma to use a foundational document like the Bible in the classroom. The war on Christianity is real.”
What Happens Next
The debate over the place of religion in public educational institutions will likely continue in several states across the U.S.
