Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Principal Chief Bryan Warner were re-elected over the weekend.
The unofficial results point to a landslide victory for incumbents Hoskin Jr. and Warner. Both walked away with more than 60% of the vote on Saturday – that's 30 points more than their next closest challenger.
Hoskin Jr. said he will continue to focus on criminal justice issues and health care over the next four years.
"...Finishing some really big projects that we've started in health care. The ones that are most important to me are the drug treatment effort that we are doing over the next five years," said Hoskin Jr.
Districts 1, 3 and 8 will head to a runoff next month after no one secured more than half of the vote for those seats.
More than 16,000 Cherokee citizens voted in this election cycle. That's up from 13,870 voters in 2019.
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against Apple for violating labor laws in Oklahoma City.
Region 14 of the NLRB has issued a complaint alleging Apple has engaged in multiple unfair labor practices at its Oklahoma City store, which formed a union last year.
The complaint alleges Apple attempted to prevent employees from freely exercising their right to organize by committing National Labor Relations Act violations such as interrogating employees about their support for the union and threatening employees with retaliation if they selected the union as their bargaining representative.
Workers at the store began contract negotiations with the company last month.
The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter has closed its doors once again to prevent the spread of a canine respiratory infection.
According to shelter officials, around 130 dogs are currently showing symptoms such as coughing and runny nose. No deaths have been reported so far.
The shelter suspects the infection is caused by the canine flu virus, the same virus that led to a previous closure in March that killed five dogs. While the shelter remains closed to the public, they will continue to accept sick, injured and dangerous animals.
People who adopted dogs from the shelter recently are advised to monitor their dogs for symptoms and seek veterinary advice if needed.
Recent rainfall across Oklahoma has chipped away at drought-stricken areas, bringing some relief to cattle ranchers. But full drought recovery is still a ways away.
With dried-up ponds and little to no forage, the drought has forced some ranchers to sell their livestock early for the past two years.
Derrell Peel is a livestock marketing specialist for Oklahoma State University Extension. He says building back herds will be a slow process.
"I think at this point it's highly unlikely that we could actually turn this thing around and stop the liquidation completely. Now, we don't expect a lot of liquidation, but it does depend on what happens to the drought as we go forward,," Peel said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's crop progress report shows pasture conditions are improving with recent rains.
Peel says there will be a slowdown in beef production this year as cattle ranchers try to maintain their smaller cattle herds and rebuild their herd size… which could lead to higher prices for shoppers at the grocery store.
The Oklahoma Climatological Survey found that in May, a record number of tornadoes occurred in several Oklahoma counties during the first half of the year.
Oklahomans are used to being weather aware - especially during tornado season. And so far this year, it’s been busy.
According to the OCS Mesonet, both Cleveland and McClain Counties have already broken records for the number of tornadoes in a calendar year. Cleveland County has seen 13 tornadoes, while McClain saw 11. The previous records there were both over a decade old.
It was busy in that part of the state last month. Cleveland, McClain and Pottawatomie Counties saw more than two dozen tornadoes combined. One storm in mid-May even dropped 11 funnels.
So far this year, Oklahoma has had a total of 50 tornadoes. In 2022 - the state had 57 twisters.
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