Local & Regional

Mayes County is getting a new development.

Ground was broken yesterday for 'The District'.  It is a new housing, retail and recreation area near the Mid-America Industrial Park.

It will be on 150-acres between Pryor and Chouteau along U.S. Highway 69. It should be open in 2020.

A first-of-its kind advisory board will evaluate rapid poultry industry growth in northeastern Oklahoma.

The Coordinating Council on Poultry Growth is the first such body formed in conjunction with a federally recognized tribe, in this case, the Cherokee Nation.

More than 200 new commercial poultry houses got permits from the state agriculture department in the past year, many of them in northeastern Oklahoma. Residents aren’t exactly welcoming them with open arms, voicing concerns about water access, air and water quality, and traffic.

How are Oklahoma’s four virtual charter schools performing? State lawmakers found out in an interim study Thursday it’s hard to say.

Experts told Oklahoma lawmakers for the most part, the largest virtual charter school, Epic, is outperforming public schools in state testing, while its third-largest, Oklahoma Connections Academy, is comparable in English Language arts.

Sen. Ron Sharp, however, took issue with how their calculations, which compared very different proportions of students.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections says a man serving a life sentence for the hate-crime killing of his Lebanese neighbor has died.

Department spokesman Matt Elliott said Thursday that 63-year-old Stanley Majors was found dead Wednesday in his bed at Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Majors was in the prison infirmary. No information about his condition has been made available.

The United States may have reclaimed the title of the world's biggest oil producer sooner than expected.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that, based on preliminary estimates, America "likely surpassed" Russia in June and August after jumping over Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

If those estimates are right, it would mark the first time since 1973 that the U.S. has led the world in output, according to government figures.

The new leader of a downtown Tulsa advisory board is ready to move full speed ahead on a walkability study’s suggestions.

Downtown Coordinating Council Executive Director Brian Kurtz said he wants downtown to be a more attractive place to be, and renowned city planner Jeff Speck's 2017 study is a game plan for that.

The United States may have reclaimed the title of the world's biggest oil producer sooner than expected.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that America "likely surpassed" Russia in June and August after jumping over Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

The agency says that conclusion is based on preliminary estimates.

If those estimates are right, it would mark the first time in decades that the U.S. has led in output.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scott Pruitt, the scandal-ridden former Environmental Protection Agency chief, denied on Wednesday that he had obtained any extraordinary gifts or income as a result of his Cabinet-level post, and dismissed allegations he received perks ranging from sport tickets to a job for his wife.

The EPA on Wednesday released Pruitt's financial disclosure report for 2017. The report required Pruitt to disclose sources of income and gifts received because of his government work.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — An arrest warrant for a gymnastics coach facing sex abuse charges in Texas and Oklahoma alleges he put his hands inside girls' leotards.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the Oklahoma warrant accuses 51-year-old Skipper Glenn Crawley of molesting 8- to 10-year-old girls as they stretched. Crawley also is accused of instituting a "hug line" at the end of practices at Tulsa World Gymnastics during the 1990s and requiring girls to embrace him.

A convicted killer already serving life in prison in Oklahoma has been sentenced to an additional 20 years in federal prison for running a drug ring from inside the prison.

Court records show 36-year-old Slint Kenneth Tate was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tulsa after pleading guilty in June to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Tate admitted in a plea agreement that he used cellphones that were smuggled to him in prison to run the drug operation.

Six co-defendants previously pleaded guilty to charges in the case.

Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Working Group took a deep dive Wednesday into testing.

Jeremy Applen is vice chairman of the ASTM International committee developing technical standards for cannabis. Applen said testing must be done at multiple stages of cannabis production, because making a THC concentrate, for example, concentrates all substances that were on a marijuana plant.

A Cherokee Nation official says medical marijuana won't be legal on the Oklahoma-based tribe's property even though the state's voters approved use of the plant.

The Cherokee Phoenix reports Cherokee Nation Assistant Attorney General Chrissi Nimmo says the tribe must adhere to its own laws as well as federal regulations, and that Oklahoma law does not apply. Nimmo says possession and sale of cannabis remain illegal under tribal and federal law.

A man and a woman are shot outside of the Incredible Pizza on 71stacross from Woodland Hills Mall.

Tulsa police think  the late afternoon shooting  may have been a drug deal gone bad.

Police are looking for a suspect. 

An outgoing Tulsa City Councilor has a new job. District 5 Councilor Karen Gilbert will become the next head of the Tulsa Crime Stoppers program.

The program pays cash awards to tips leading to the arrests of suspects.

Gilbert did not seek re-election to the council and lost a race for a state house seat last month. 

Oklahoma residents looking to invest in the state's upcoming medical marijuana industry are anxiously awaiting the passage of business regulations.

The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority has received nearly 1,300 business licenses as of Sept. 5. Those applications include 452 for dispensary, 662 for cultivation and 184 for processing.

Would-be business owners and startup companies want to get an early foothold in the medical marijuana industry. That means investing in groundwork and business plans despite no state standards set in stone yet.

The Gathering Place is being challenged by the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association.

The group claims the park is violating Oklahoma state law by not allow people to carry firearms there.

While built by the private sector as a gift to the city, at issue is whether the Gathering Place is a private or public space.   If it is private then gun can be prohibited. The $465-million park opened last weekend.

Several people have been turned away from the park because of weapons. 

The former Dollar Thrifty Plaza is full up on tenants.

Family & Children’s Services and OSU Center for Health Sciences will occupy 13 floors of the west tower at Legacy Plaza, the social services–centered redevelopment on 31st Street east of Yale Avenue led by the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation.

Executive Director Bill Major said they join east tower tenants Mental Health Association Oklahoma, CAP Tulsa, LIFE Senior Services and Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, and Assistance League of Tulsa, which occupies a three-story building on the site.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Collections to Oklahoma's main state operating fund exceeded the official estimate by nearly 7 percent in August, buoyed mostly by better-than-expected individual income tax collections.

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services released figures on Tuesday that show collections to the General Revenue Fund totaled $455 million last month. That's an increase of 6.6 percent from the monthly estimate and nearly 10 percent over collections during the same month last year.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s latest eight-year construction plan includes a major Tulsa project.

An $80 million project on I-44 west of the Arkansas River should go out for bid sometime in federal fiscal year 2021.

"The plan right now for I-44 for the widening between Union Avenue and the Arkansas River will be adding in an extra lane in each direction and also making some operational improvements at the U.S. 75 junction," said ODOT's Kenna Mitchell.

The project was awarded a $45 million dollar federal infrastructure grant.

PERRY, Okla. (AP) — Two earthquakes recorded within less than one minute of each other have rattled an area of northern Oklahoma.

The U.S. Geological Survey says each of the earthquakes was recorded Tuesday about 16 miles west-southwest of Perry.

Geologists say a 3.3 magnitude earthquake that was recorded at 11:11 a.m. was preceded by a 2.7 magnitude temblor in the same area about 30 seconds earlier. The earthquakes were recorded at a depth of about 2 miles.

No injuries or damages were reported. Geologists say damage is not likely in quakes below magnitude 4.0.

A federal grand jury has indicted a Missouri man accused of having a pipe bomb at an apartment in northeastern Oklahoma.

Prosecutors said Monday that 36-year-old Richard C. Cole of Joplin, Missouri, was indicted by a grand jury in Tulsa with possession of an unregistered destructive device.

Authorities say Delaware County sheriff's deputies were called to Cole's apartment in Afton after the landlord discovered a suspected improvised explosive device.

The Tulsa Route 66 Commission is considering an update to the corridor’s master plan, last touched in 2005.

"The citizens have approved through the Vision Tulsa package some dollars to help our work in making Route 66 all it can be in Tulsa. So, we want to have a new strategic plan that guides that work, that invests that money in meaningful ways that will give us the best return," said Chairman Ed Sharrer.

An update would give the commission an opportunity to pencil in new projects. The 11th Street bridge over the Arkansas River is a priority.

A fatality crash takes two lives in south Tulsa. The horrific crash happened last night at 41stand Yale in front of the Promenade Mall. 

The roadway was blocked while police sorted through the details of the crash.

It appears a passenger car turned left in front of an on coming pick-up. The car’s driver and a passenger were killed in the crash.

Construction crews are preparing to replace the Oklahoma Capitol's copper roof, which officials consider to be the biggest unexpected expense so far in the building's years-long restoration project.

The Oklahoman reports that replacing the 45,000 square feet of copper will cost the state $9.3 million. Project manager Trait Thompson says he doesn't plan to ask lawmakers for more money because the restoration plan has built-in funds for unforeseen expenses.

A judge in Oklahoma has decided to move the rape case against four former Bixby football players to juvenile court, which will close the proceedings to the public.

 Tulsa County Special Judge April Seibert ruled Monday that the four teenagers presented adequate evidence they were amenable to treatment in the juvenile court system.

The four teens are accused of attacking a 16-year-old boy with a pool cue last summer in an assault captured on cellphone video. They each have pleaded not guilty to second-degree rape by instrumentation.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Construction crews are preparing to replace the Oklahoma Capitol's copper roof, which officials consider to be the biggest unexpected expense so far in the building's ongoing restoration project.

Replacing the 45,000 square feet of copper roofing will cost the state $9.3 million. Project manager Trait Thompson doesn't plan to ask lawmakers for more money because the restoration plan has built-in funds for unforeseen expenses, the Oklahoman reported.