Alva Review-Courier -

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has signed into law the largest teacher pay raise in the state's history and a massive package of tax hikes to pay for the plan. Flanked by educators and GOP leaders, Fallin on Thursday signed a bill t...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A company that provides services for youth homes in Oklahoma is terminating its contracts with the state. White Fields announced plans to terminate their Piedmont group home contracts with the Oklahoma Department of Human S...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma State Department of Health says it's helping investigate a nationwide salmonella outbreak that's linked to a stimulant-like plant called kratom. Officials say a total of 91 people in 36 states, including four c...

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A district attorney is fighting against efforts to recuse his office from a sexual assault case against four Oklahoma high school football players. The Tulsa World reports that attorneys for the Bixby High School students filed a...

OKMULGEE, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma prison officials say an inmate who walked away from a prison in Muskogee County has been found and is back in custody. The state Department of Corrections says 52-year-old Todd Hicks was arrested by Okmulgee County s...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Health officials say almost twice as many Oklahomans have died from influenza this season than any previous season on record. The Oklahoma Department of Health said Thursday that 253 people have died from the virus since the f...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the murder conviction of a man for a fatal shooting at a Lawton motel. The court on Thursday rejected appeals by 31-year-old Robert Long, who was convicted and sentenced to l...

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Authorities say Stillwater police officers shot and killed a man who was reportedly holding a pistol and a knife. Stillwater Police Capt. Kyle Gibbs says officers were responding Wednesday night after a man called 911 and s...

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas militia member started trying to recruit other members to kill Muslim immigrants after the 2016 attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, an FBI informant testified Thursday. Dan Day told jurors that Patrick S...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A measure that would require a Kansas agency to release information regarding child abuse deaths will now go to the state Senate. The state House unanimously approved the bill Thursday, The Kansas City Star reported. It would r...

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials have identified three new cases of measles, bringing the state's outbreak total to 13. The Kansas City Star reports that the outbreak began earlier this month at a daycare center that health officials have d...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man convicted in the killing of his estranged wife last summer has been sentenced to life in prison. Television station KSNT reports that say Pedro Enriquez pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder, aggravated k...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Adoption and foster care organizations contracting with Kansas welfare officials would be allowed to refuse placements to gay and lesbian couples based on religious beliefs under a bill that has passed the Senate. The bill that p...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have proposed a $500 million increase in school funding to satisfy a state Supreme Court mandate. The legislation that a House committee advanced Wednesday night would phase in the increase over five years, The K...

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut high school employee is accused of threatening to "execute" white men and stomping on an American flag in a classroom. A police report says Harding High School in-school suspension counselor Carl Lemon was a...

CONWAY, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas school district is seeking to bar a 15-year-old student from campus after allegations he posted a photo on social media of him holding a gun. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the Vilonia School District filed t...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The brother of the suspected Florida high school gunman pleaded no contest Thursday to trespassing on the campus where the deadly rampage occurred and was later released from jail after being sentenced to time served a...

UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis school bus driver has been suspended after a 6-year-old fell asleep in the morning and then wasn't found until he failed to return home after classed ended for the day. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch r...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) Long before the current state of heightened attention to school shootings, my colleagues and I began a two-year...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The suspect in the Florida high school shooting that killed 17 is getting letters of support in jail including fan mail and pictures of scantily-clad women in addition to hundreds of dollars in contributions to his c...

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by Exxon Mobil aimed at stopping an investigation by New York and Massachusetts officials into whether the oil giant misled investors and the public about its knowledge of climate c...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A teacher rebellion that started in the hills of West Virginia spread like a prairie fire to Oklahoma this week and now threatens to reach the desert in Arizona. In the deep red state of Oklahoma, the Republican-led Legislature a...

HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by two this week to 993. That exceeds the 824 rigs that were active this time a year ago. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported Thursday t...

DALLAS (AP) — An anti-corruption group says Exxon Mobil bought rights to drill in an area off the coast of West Africa despite its concerns about possible corruption. Global Witness said Thursday that Exxon knew that the oil field, called Block 13, h...