News

Since 2020, Congress has approved three rounds of federal COVID-bailout funding, providing more than $2 billion combined to Oklahoma school districts to mitigate viral spread, address challenges created by the pandemic, and reverse learning loss tied to COVID shutdowns.

But more than 70 percent of that money remains unspent today, according to figures presented to state lawmakers during a budget hearing for the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

LAWSUITS

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Tyler H. Due for $1,855.92 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC vs. Amelia J. Snyder for $3,882.97 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Synchrony Bank vs. Geoff Pirtle for $4,770.67 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

TD Bank USA N.A. vs. Jeffrey K. Covey for $1,553.85 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

With the Omicron variant fueling January’s surge in COVID-19 cases both in Canadian County and across Oklahoma, residents received a break in finding those elusive at-home test kits.

The United States Postal Service has begun delivering the first batch of the test kits to Americans who placed an order on the national website COVIDTests.gov.

The use of the at-home method is promising to help take the burden off hospital emergency rooms and doctors offices that have been swamped with residents seeking coronavirus testing.

El Reno was hit by its second winter mix of 2022.

The city was covered with several inches of snow as temperatures stayed in the single digits to low teens through Thursday.

Randy Hurst has been awarded the Oklahoma Music Educators Association (OkMEA) President’s Award. The presentation came at a Jan. 20 ceremony that was a part of the OkMEA Winter Conference held at the DoubleTree in downtown Tulsa.

El Reno police arrested a man after he was found to allegedly be in possession of numerous illegal drugs, several stolen driver’s licenses and credit cards as well as a U.S. passport reported stolen in Ardmore and Marietta as well as in Gainsville and Muenster, Texas. 

Police said Casey Bradbury was found shortly after 2 a.m. on Jan. 17  “passed out” in a Chevrolet pickup parked in front of a closed energy business on SH 66. Police said Bradbury told them he lived in Ardmore.

The Canadian County Children’s Justice Center has created a support group intended to help those grandparents who find themselves raising grandchildren.

Legislative redistricting has created a new State Senate district that will cover much of Yukon. Oklahoma Senate District 18 will officially move from eastern Oklahoma.

The district’s revised boundaries will include a significant part of the Yukon area and Oklahoma City in eastern Canadian County and Bethany and Woodlawn Park in western Oklahoma County.

Senate District 18 will include most of Yukon city limits, except for south of Interstate 40 and west of Mustang Road.

LAWSUITS

Wakefield & Associates LLC vs. Clay Symes for $1,338 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Wakefield & Associates LLC vs. Rachel Blint for $1,357 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Wakefield & Associates LLC vs. Jeremy Effinger for $2,936 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Wakefield & Associates LLC vs. Stephen Laswell for $1,319 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

In the 1980s, when a person bought a car or truck from Bill Thompson, the El Reno auto dealer would present a handmade clock to the customer. The wall clock was built from wood Thompson purchased from the defunct Rock Island Railroad.

The clocks were an El Reno original.

When Mike and Sarah Mehan opened a barn door after purchasing property once owned by the late Thompson, they discovered there was enough Rock Island wood to start a clock factory. Or build a house.