American Farmers & Ranchers/Oklahoma Farmers Union (AFR/OFU) set legislative policy for the upcoming year at the 115th Annual AFR/OFU Convention Feb. 14. Policy topics ranged from production agriculture and rural Oklahoma to topics addressing urban areas and the U.S. as a whole. Key issues included mandatory electronic identification of livestock and antitrust issues in the beef industry, as well as consumer-related issue like truth in labeling for food products. Additional significant directives included international trade issues and farm stress management.

Oklahoma could implement traditional Medicaid expansion far earlier than expected.

The world premiere of the stage adaptation of Beatrix Potter’s children’s story The Tailor of Gloucester by Dr. Kelley Logan will be presented this Friday and Saturday, February 21-22, on the Southwestern Oklahoma State University campus in Weatherford.

Carol Sparkman & Johnny Blankenship

The state Education Department is investigating how a startup statewide charter school obtained the home addresses of students across the state.

A cotton update and Dicamba training has been set for 9:30 a.m., March 10, 2020, at the Western Technology Center in Burns Flat.

An 18-year-old Dill City man could be spending the next 22 years behind bars after an argument with his father about a Playstation took a turn for the worse. Ricky Darrel Jackson, Jr., was arrested Feb. 8, 2020, and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle.

25 Years Ago Feb. 22, 1995

This week’s favorite view of Cordell comes to us from Beacon reader Dana Hardin. Hardin captured this beautiful sunset shot setting the backdrop to the grain silos near Cordell.