February 2024

A 10-point run to close the first period gave Guymon a spark of hope against top-seeded El Reno High School’s girls basketball team in the Class 5A West Region 1 Championships.

It also awoke a sleeping giant.

El Reno erased a one-point deficit with a 26-0 run to open the second period and rolled to a 73-33 victory of the Tigers to remain unbeaten on the season at 24-0.

The Indians have now tied the school record for the most wins in a single season, a mark set during a state run in 2021-22.

While it took a game longer than desired, El Reno High School’s boys basketball team made its way back to the area round of the Class 5A playoffs for an 11th straight year after posting a 2-1 record in regional play.

El Reno defeated Lawton MacArthur 57-48 to win the Class 5A West Region 4 Consolation Championship and ended the Highlanders season.

El Reno High School had seven wrestlers competing in the 2024 Oklahoma State High School Wrestling Championships.

Brooklynn Huggins sets up a pinning move on Tulsa Union’s Ma’Kadrian Titus during a pigtail match.

Niko Gonzalez works through a leg lock move by Chickasha’s Clint Longanacre to set up a takedown in the quarterfinal round.

Calumet High School’s boys basketball team moved to within a victory of tying the school record for the most wins in a single season, beating Kinta 46-30 to win the Class B, Area I Championship.

The 16-point win, the 26th by double digits this season and the fourth of the playoffs, lifts the top-ranked Chieftains to 29-0 on the season.

It also returns Jacob Mayfield’s team back to the Elite Eight of the Class B state field for a second straight year and the 10th time since 2000. The Chieftains will be making their 12th state appearance since 1998.

Dozens of youngsters got some up-close and hands-on learning last week when Roblyer Learning Center hosted a Family STEAM Night.

STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math.

Stacey Stevenson, Roblyer STEM educator, spearheaded the Friday evening event that attracted more than 100 families to the common area at Roblyer.

Tables were set up that offered children and parents the opportunity to see, touch and participate in educational activities.

The scourge of missing Native American women has led to the creation of a podcast that is aimed at shedding light on what some say is an epidemic.

Some of the stories are expected to eventually include missing El Reno women, like Ida Beard.

Red Road Echoes first episode aired in January. It opened with the case of Neveah Kingbird, Ojibwe, a 15-year-old girl from Bemidji, Minn., who went missing on Oct. 22, 2021. Her case is still open and unsolved.

The Centre Theatre for the Arts will present "Over the River and Through the Woods" on Feb. 23 and 24 and March 1 and 2 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 25 and March 3 at 2 p.m. at the Centre Theatre, 110 S. Bickford Avenue.

The play, directed by Guy Hickerson with assistant director Patrice Gross, sees four Italian grandparents looking forward to their grandson visiting every Sunday.

That is, until they receive word that he’s moving more than 2,000 miles away.

The grandparents will do anything to keep him from moving, even help him find a girlfriend.

Voters across Canadian County will head to the polls March 5 to decide whether to update the county’s 39-year-old Sunday alcohol sales prohibition. They’ll also cast ballots for President of the United States.

The proposition on Canadian County election ballots will read: “Shall the sales of alcoholic beverages by the individual drink for on-premises consumption on Sundays be extended to begin at 8 a.m. as allowed by law like other days of the week within Canadian County, Oklahoma?”

Voters will choose to vote yes or no on the county question.

From concurrent enrollment classes to the support for STEM degree programs such as nursing, Redlands Community College students see and appreciate the value of Oklahoma’s investment in higher education.

Several of these students visited the Capitol recently for Higher Education Day to meet with legislators and advocate for continued legislative support for Oklahoma’s colleges and universities.

Mustang Superintendent Charles Bradley spoke to Mustang Board of Education members and the public about the recent tragedies that claimed the life of one student and injured another.

Bradley said Mustang Public Schools has been as open as it can be legally throughout the process while respecting the families with the information they sent to the district/public.

He began by clarifying that there were two separate incidents that occurred on Wednesday, Jan. 31. The first, which occurred on campus before school, involved a student attempting suicide.