Norman Public Schools Superintendent Nick Migliorino, right, gathers his papers Friday, June 17, 2022, at the end of a hearing in the NPS Administration Center that resulted in NPS teacher Richard Cavett's termination.

The City of Norman invites the public to Reaves Park Saturday for its second annual Juneteenth Festival — an expansion on its first year, according to one of the organizers.

A Norman City Councilor met with Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce officials to ask the department to consider the plight of residents who will be impacted by the state’s turnpike expansion plans.

With 13 Republicans running for an open congressional seat that covers mostly native land, some District 2 candidates say they support added federal funding for tribal law enforcement, while others are calling to dismantle reservations.

Norman Public Schools’ Board of Education voted after a 14-hour hearing Friday to fire a Norman High School teacher who leaked photos of threatening graffiti in a school bathroom.

HOUSTON — The city of Uvalde has hired its own attorneys to represent it in the aftermath of the Uvalde mass shooting last month that left 21 people dead.

Attorneys for death row inmate Richard Glossip asked an Oklahoma appeals court to not schedule his execution to allow a post-conviction review of his case.

Police have arrested a second person on in a shooting at an Oklahoma festival last month in which one person was killed and eight others were wounded. Officers arrested 25-year-old Kendall Alexander on Friday at his home in Muskogee, about 125 miles east of Oklahoma City, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said. He is jailed without bond on one count of first-degree murder and eight counts of shooting with intent to kill. Alexander is the second person detained in the Memorial Day weekend shooting in Taft, where about 1,500 people were attending an outdoor festival. Days after the shooting, Skyler Buckner surrendered to police and is currently in custody. Arrest warrants were also issued for two other people.

TAFT, Oklahoma – A Northeast Oklahoma town where a fatal shooting occurred over the Memorial Day weekend is ready to celebrate Juneteenth, with two extra days and added security.

The LGBTQ community may feel a bit less celebratory for Pride Month during a year which saw a slate of legislative attacks throughout the country.

Across the University of Oklahoma campus, there are several examples of sculptures memorializing people who had an impact on the institution.

As The Regional Transportation Authority of Central Oklahoma loses member cities and its financial support, Norman has chosen to stick with it and pick up part of the tab.

The Jan. 6 committee has plunged deeper into Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to overturn the 2020 election. Testimony Thursday showed even Trump aides and allies warning him against the plan to have Vice President Mike Pence reject the electoral count before Congress certified it. Gripping new evidence also detailed how the mob that stormed the Capitol that day came within 40 feet of where Pence and his team were sheltering, highlighting the danger Trump had put him in. Thursday's witnesses, including Pence's counsel, dissected a strategy Trump embraced from conservative law professor John Eastman to have Pence refuse to certify Joe Biden’s election victory in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress.

An updated building code will bring housing between Campus Corner and downtown Norman, officials say.

Norman Public Schools’ Board of Education will decide during a Friday morning hearing whether to fire a Norman High School teacher who leaked photos of threatening graffiti in a school bathroom.

Residents of the West Texas city of Odessa have been improvising emergency water supplies after a water system outage left them high and dry for days amid scorching heat, even as utility crews scrambled to restore normal service. Residents have been without water amid scorching temperatures this week after an aging pipe broke Monday afternoon. The city’s water treatment plant was back online by about 8 a.m. Wednesday and water was being added back into the system. An official says a boil-water notice was likely to continue until Friday. Some residents traveled to other towns or tapped old wells for water supplies.

OKLAHOMA CITY — House lawmakers on Wednesday passed a “buffet” of inflation relief tax options aimed at cutting grocery and personal income taxes, but state Senate leaders said their actions amounted to little more than “complete political theater” that “hoodwinked” even the governor.

McALESTER — An Oklahoma lawmaker said Wednesday that if the state executes death row inmate Richard Glossip, he will fight to end the death penalty in the state.

An eclectic market featuring baby clothes, home decor and gourmet food items in the heart of Norman will close next month after 11 years.

Editor's note: this story has been updated to reflect that two councilors voted no on the internal audit function. The Transcript regrets the error.

Microsoft has officially sent Internet Explorer into retirement. As of Wednesday, Microsoft will no longer support the once-dominant browser that legions of web surfers loved to hate — and a few still claim to adore. Its launch in 1995 signaled the beginning of the end of the web's first widely popular browser, Netscape Navigator. IE’s market share peaked in the early 2000s at over 90%. But it began to fade as users found faster, less crash-prone alternatives. Today, Google's Chrome browser dominates with about 65% of the worldwide browser market share. IE’s heir, Microsoft Edge, lags with about about 4%.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. issued a statement Tuesday evening reassessing an executive order that would have removed the Oklahoma state flag from Cherokee Nation properties.

Oklahoma made history last month as the first state in 50 years to put a full ban on abortions. This stringency has not been seen in most states in more than 100 years.

City councilors voted Tuesday to give the department the exact amount that the council reallocated from the Norman Police Department’s proposed budget increase in 2020.

Democratic Cornbread and Beans will meet at 11:30 a.m. Friday at The Well, 210 James Garner Ave.

AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick earlier this month called for the state to spend $50 million on bulletproof shields for school police in order to stem school shootings. Now, state Speaker of the House Dade Phelan says he supports the measure.

Lawmakers tried to rein in a business tax break that has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

A contract with an architecture and engineering firm and a related invoice was approved by two Cleveland County Commissioners despite a blood relative in the company also working for the county.

Flooding has wiped out roads and bridges and closed off all entrances to Yellowstone National Park at the onset of the busy summer tourist season. Officials are evacuating visitors from the northern part of the park. And the flooding has cut off road access to Gardiner, a town of about 900 people near Yellowstone’s busy North Entrance. The flooding caused at least one rock slide, cut off electricity and imperiled water and sewer systems in northern Yellowstone, but has affected other areas of the park as well. Flooding also has hit the Yellowstone gateway communities of Red Lodge and Joliet in southern Montana.

The outline of a bipartisan Senate agreement on reining in gun violence has no game-changing steps banning the deadliest firearms. But it does propose measured provisions that could make it harder for some young gun buyers, or people considered threatening, to have weapons. And there are meaningful efforts to address mental health and school safety concerns. There's pressure on both parties to act after last month's mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. But details of the plan remain in negotiation between Democrats and Republicans, with disagreements over how tightly the initiatives should be drawn. Here's a look at where things stand.

Donald Trump’s closest campaign advisers, top government officials and even his family were systematically dismantling his false claims of 2020 election fraud ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But the defeated president seemed “detached from reality,” clinging to outlandish theories to stay in power. That's the assessment from former Attorney General William Barr's testimony presented at Monday's House hearing investigating the insurrection. The panel is delving deeper into what it calls the “big lie,” the defeated Republican president’s false claims of voter fraud. The panel says Trump's falsehoods provoked a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol.

OKLAHOMA CITY — House Republicans on Monday proposed a series of tax cuts designed to provide inflation relief to struggling Oklahomans as requested by Gov. Kevin Stitt, but also unveiled a plan to pay for them in part by slashing the Governor’s Office budget.

The June 28 primary will bring lots of important races to Cleveland County voters' ballots, but few will be as locally impactful as the Cleveland County commissioner races. 

Republican candidates for Oklahoma Corporation Commission sparred on issues ranging from utility prices to the McGirt U.S. Supreme Court decision during a debate hosted by NonDoc and News 9 on Tuesday at the OSU Hamm Institute for American Energy.

The Oklahoma Legislature is returning for a special session to consider tax cuts the governor wants and how to allocate federal COVID-19 relief funds that were part of the American Rescue Plan Act. The session will convene Monday. Gov. Kevin Stitt wants lawmakers to consider eliminating the state sales tax on groceries and reducing the individual income taxes by 0.25%. It's not clear whether the the GOP-controlled House and Senate have the votes to approve both items and some Republicans have urged caution about tax cuts since it takes a three-fourth's vote from the Legislature to increase taxes. House Speaker Charles McCall says the House will introduce unspecified bills intended to offset inflation.

Mid-America Technology Center and the Norman Farm Market announced two scholarships and online training opportunities available to assist small farmers.

Gas prices continue to spike to record nationwide, and in the Oklahoma City metro, it’s upped the cost of doing business in Norman and changed driving habits.

Knowing who has the key to your house can go a long way in nabbing the culprit when something goes missing, or other strange things start happening, but what if the problem is you?

Marriage — and divorce — in the U.S. are starkly different than in earlier eras of the country’s history.

The following building permit activity was reported by the Development Services Division of the City of Norman for May 26 through June 1.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago, living space has taken on new importance for many Americans.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Gross receipts to the Treasury in May reflect the dampening effect of inflation on the Oklahoma economy, State Treasurer Randy McDaniel announced Monday.

The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma is hoping to increase the amount of residents who vote during local and general elections.

Norman police say they have “no information” in response to questions about mass shootings and gun laws.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Activists and demonstrators wanting gun reform — including measures opposed by Oklahoma’s Republican caucus — rallied at the State Capitol Saturday.

The Norman Downtowners Association may put a property assessment to pay for future downtown projects before area property owners.

A recent poll shows many Norman residents believe homelessness is the top issue in the city.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The June 28 Republican primary poses a rare opportunity for Gov. Kevin Stitt to get two of his handpicked appointees elected to pivotal roles that could shape the path forward for Oklahoma’s public schools and tribal relations for years to come.

A former Cleveland County employee — whose alleged actions prompted officials to ask the state for an audit — filed a lawsuit Friday accusing a county commissioner of keeping his personal supplies after he was fired.

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Mostly clear. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph..

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Mostly clear. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.

Artist Christy Phelps posing with her series “Free to Fly” (left) at OU’s 2022 Senior Capstone Exhibition.

Artist Christy Phelps posing with her series “Free to Fly” (left) at OU’s 2022 Senior Capstone Exhibition.

Across the University of Oklahoma campus, there are several examples of sculptures memorializing people who had an impact on the institution.

These statues depict leaders, politicians, athletes and Native peoples who have profound meaning to the scholars studying and working here.

Soon, another sculpture of this significance will be added to the distinguished collection. It’s a 52-inch-tall depiction of Dr. Sidney Brown (1925-2010), an OU professor emeritus who taught Asian history for 56 years with a particular emphasis on Japan. In 1987, he received one of the Japanese government’s highest civilian honors.

The sculpture of Brown is planned for installation in a Jacobson Hall outdoor façade’s architectural niche. Its casting process is presently in progress at Norman’s The Crucible Bronze Foundry.

The artist commissioned to create this work is Norman resident Christy Phelps, a class of 2022 OU BFA graduate who has just begun OU graduate studies in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She’s found weight in the project that reflects on both Brown’s legacy and within her own life.

“What Dr. Brown was most well known for was how he bridged a gap between the USA and Japan after WWII,” Phelps said. “Using jazz music and cultural studies, he brought the two cultures together. He was one of the first professors to bring Asian studies, and specifically Japan to OU. The university wants to honor him with a sculpture at Jacobson Hall and how great he was to bridge that gap.

“He had joy for the people of Japan and the students here which seemed to be contagious through his love of jazz and bringing people together.”

Phelps is married, and her husband lived in Japan for a decade during childhood.

“As we were dating and during marriage, I’ve loved hearing stories about Japan and his life there,” she said. “We’re planning to travel there for our 10th anniversary in a few years so I can see where he grew up. That’s always been in my mind and heart, so when I found out about Dr. Brown, I was inspired to create his sculpture. I was able to study the Japanese art that my in-laws have in their home along with my other research to figure out what I wanted to sculpt in the deep relief panels near the niche sculpture. So it’s very personal.”

Phelps also paints, draws and makes ceramics. She was a Norman Arts Council Award winner, had work selected for inclusion in OU’s 108th Annual School of Visual Arts Student Exhibition this year and snagged the John R. Potts Jr. Sculpture Award at the 2021 show.

Phelps has been successfully selling her ceramic wares at Stash in Norman and through christyphelpsart.com.

“I’m humbled by the opportunity to create the niche sculpture for Jacobson Hall,” Phelps said. “Right now the mold is being made at The Crucible, and those folks have been great to work with. My instructor Paul Moore will be helping me cast it. We’re hoping for installation in June.”

Phelps believes she was given unlimited creative freedom at OU.

“They want you to develop your own style,” she said, “your own unique voice for how you’re going to use your art. But at the same time, they’re able to hold a very high standard in requirements for each project in terms of concept, design and basic principles of art. All that with freedom in how you approach it. That can be challenging, but in a good way.”

In addition to being a student, wife and mother, Phelps has other responsibilities in her life. She’s a Sexual Violence Response Specialist at a rape crisis center, assisting survivors through forensic rape kit examinations.

For her Senior Capstone Exhibition, Phelps created an art series titled “Free to Fly.” It’s 11 separate framed panels with groupings of multi-colored and textured ceramic butterflies on each.

The works’ label reads, “These butterflies symbolize personal transformation, and the number of clients I’ve worked with is reflected in the butterflies here.”

Phelps intends to explore in her graduate studies how art can help and empower victims of trauma.

“Victims often don’t have the words to talk about what just happened,” she said. “I want to assist them in ways to process what is happening to them and I think art can be used in that. There are studies on how art, yoga, music and other things that incorporate our five senses can be used to help trauma victims and survivors communicate.”

The “Free to Fly” butterfly art is available for acquisition at Stash, 412 E. Main St., and a significant amount of the sales proceeds will be donated to Norman’s Women’s Resource Center.

Jimmie Ray Wallin Jr., 68, passed the afternoon of June 4. Memorial service is Friday June 24 10:00AM at Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery in the Chapel. Please sign the online guestbook at www.primrosefuneralservice.com

Tamberly Webb, born 2-19-58 to Jerryl & Norma Chodrick, died 6-10-22 & buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Enid near her parents & son, Jon McFarland. Survived by husband, Lester Webb, sons Daniel McFarland & Carl Webb, many grandchildren & great-grandchildren.

Larry Paschal Laneer, 69, Norman, passed away June 14, 2022. Online condolences may be shared at www.tribute.care (405-292-4787).

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