Hunters, firearms owners and people who enjoy the shooting sports have yet another place to practice with their firearms. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is pleased to announce the public opening of a new shooting range at Copan Wildlife Management Area, about 13 miles north of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
“We are thrilled to be able to open yet another new range for the enjoyment of firearms and archery shooters alike,” said Communication and Education Supervisor Lance Meek.
In a sure sign that spring is not far behind, the first Purple Martins of the year have been spotted in Oklahoma, the Purple Martin Conservation Association reported today.
The birds were seen on February 18 in Lawton, Oklahoma by a Purple Martin enthusiast – one of many throughout the eastern and central United States who track and report on the birds’ annual migration on behalf of the Purple Martin Conservation Association. The migration of these unique birds can be reported and tracked through a community science project called the Scout-Arrival Study. Last year, as Tulsa Today reported, the birds were first seen on February 8 in Purcell.
On the fifth anniversary of February 2021’s Winter Storm “Uri,” appeals challenging more than $1.4 billion in bonds and $377 million in rate increases impacting the customers of electric utility companies OG&E and Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) are now in the hands of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Tuesday, Reps. Tom Gann, R-Inola, Kevin West, R-Moore, and Rick West, R-Heavener, filed the final brief in their appeal of a 2025 Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) order approving a $127 million rate increase for OG&E without a CPA-led audit of the utility’s 2021 Winter Storm “Uri” bonds.
A Bolivian national currently residing illegally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and wanted by a foreign country was charged by criminal complaint last week for receiving, distributing, and possessing child sexual abuse material. Vismar Erick Atahuichi Alanoca, 39, is charged with Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography, and Possession of or Access with Intent to View Child Pornography. He is also wanted by INTERPOL and has been identified as a sexually violent predator with violent tendencies.
Oklahoma’s 2026 literacy bills represent one of the most serious legislative pushes for early reading improvement in recent memory. Lawmakers across chambers have introduced proposals addressing screening, intervention, coaching, summer programs, and—in some cases—third-grade promotion standards. That is encouraging.
But after studying these bills closely, I believe the real question facing Oklahoma is not whether we pass “a literacy bill.” It is whether we build a coherent literacy system.
