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Each January, area school boards make an announcement to recognize the individuals who serve as board members.

Taylor Boulay of Newcastle was named to Southern New Hampshire University’s Fall 2023 Dean’s List. The fall terms run from September to December.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) will open the state income tax filing season on Monday, January 29, 2024. This date is in coordination with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

One person was killed in a hit-and-run in Newcastle December 24.

The Newcastle Chamber of Commerce Morning Mingle scheduled last Friday at Electrode Repairs was cancelled and moved to 9 a.m. this Friday due to possible cold weather. Electrode Repairs is located at 1025 N. Main Street in Newcastle.

The mission of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is to cultivate a love of reading in early life. Enrolled children under the age of five receive one book by mail each month until their fifth birthday. The program, launched in 1995, promotes early childhood literacy across the world by helping children to become “reading ready” as they enter kindergarten. The Pioneer Library System first launched its partnership with the program in September 2022.

Fall semester honor rolls at Northwestern Oklahoma State University have been announced by the office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Newcastle resident Mindy Nix was among those listed She was on the Vice-President’s Honor Roll, attaining a 3.5 or better grade point average with a minimum of 12 undergraduate hours.

In just two weeks of February 2021, Oklahoma’s largest public utilities incurred some $2.8 billion in fuel and purchased power costs (compared to $1.3 billion for all of 2020). Then lawmakers and two Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners allowed those utilities to tack on another $2 billion-plus of financing (aka “securitization”) expenses by issuing pricey ratepayer-backed bonds with terms as long as 28 years.

A shelter built by homeless individuals at a location north of Tri City Mart off State Highway 37 in Newcastle is now supposed to be vacant. Two of three individuals living there were cited by police for trespassing after the property owners complained. Newcastle Police were informed while at the location that the third individual was at work.

We’ve hit the ground running in 2024 with numerous budget hearings scheduled in the next two weeks as we continue work on the FY’25 budget. These are public and streamed live on the Senate website, so I encourage those who are interested in how our state agencies are using their current funding and what their plans are for the coming year to tune in.

The national security threat and humanitarian risk posed by the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border has brought our country to an important crossroads. It is far past time that we address President Joe Biden’s self-made border disaster, support our customs and border patrol (CBP) agents and provide reasonable reforms to a broken immigration system.