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Support staff with at least one year of service and all certified educators with El Reno Public Schools will have extra incentive to start the 2025-26 school term in the form of a pay raise.

“Anytime you have things going well financially, you should want to pass that along to your teachers and support staff if you can afford to do it.

“We’ve got some things going our way the last three years and we felt we could afford to increase our salary and support pay scale,” said El Reno Superintendent Matt Goucher.

There is so much going on in the month of May, it feels like Christmas without the shopping. Burger Day, graduation, end-of-year school activities, wrapping up spring sports and more.

Being in the newspaper business and trying to cover it all seems nearly impossible, but our team at the Tribune always gets it done.

When Glen Miller sent this photo of Conley Knapp giving him a hug after El Reno girls soccer lost their game in the state tournament, it made me tear up a little, well, maybe a lot.

Canadian County commissioners have been meeting with other county officers and department directors in recent weeks to finalize plans for a new county courthouse.

Construction contracts are expected to be awarded this fall on an estimated $71 million building project at 201 N. Choctaw.

A $74 million global project budget includes a $3.35 million owner contingency for unforeseen items such as rising costs due to tariffs, according to construction manager Stan Lingo.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma could be on the hook for paying almost $500 million if Congress moves forward with historic plans to shift food stamp costs to states.

Jeffrey Cartmell, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s appointee to head the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, discussed the potential impact during his confirmation hearing Monday before the state Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee.

LAWSUITS

TD Bank USA N.A. vs. Angela Payne for $8,399.51 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

TD Bank USA N.A. vs. Deshawn Wright for $1,782.34 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

LVNV Funding LLC vs. Timothy Yost for $1,543.14 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

LVNV Funding LLC vs. Scott Botkin for $3,115.20 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Crown Asset Management LLC vs. Kristen Maddox-Pierce for $1,915.37 to pay a debt plus interest, costs and attorney fees.

Adams Park could become home to the world’s largest bison sculpture. And that could attract a massive herd of tourists to El Reno. 

So says Nathan Pratt, the son of legendary artist Harvey Pratt and a noted artist in his own right.

Pratt pitched the idea of creating the world’s largest bison sculpture to the El Reno City Council at last week’s regular monthly meeting.

El Reno High School held its graduation ceremony for the Class of 2025 Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

More than 265 seniors walked and received diplomas.

The good news is El Reno residents will now be able to have unwanted “bulk” items picked up at curbside twice a year rather than haul them to Adams Park.

The bad news, it will cost an extra $2 per month.

Last week the city council approved a new five-year contract with the Oklahoma Environmental Management Authority.

The current seven-year deal expires at the end of June. 

El Reno will remember Memorial Day with a ceremony May 26.

American Legion Post 34 Commander Larry Heald said the Memorial Day service will begin at 11 a.m. at the El Reno Cemetery. Heald will open the service with prayer and Terry Walker will lead the flag salute. 

The National Anthem will be performed by Tiera Gunsolus.

As states rush to address falling literacy scores, a new kind of education debate in state legislatures is taking hold - not whether reading instruction needs fixing, but how to fix it.

More than a dozen states have enacted laws banning public school educators from teaching youngsters to read using an approach that’s been popular for decades. The method, known as “three-cueing,” encourages kids to figure out unfamiliar words using context clues such as meaning, sentence structure and visual hints.