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There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;

Hebrews 4:9

By CRAIG HALL

[email protected]

Heavener City Council failed to take action on a section in an executive session regarding the employment of the Chief of Police as appropriate.

Heavener Mayor Billy Adrean said there has been no change in the department.

The announcement came after a lengthy executive session.

Under public comments, Jennifer Yandell said there were six teams and 74 players competing in the new league at Blues Park this year. There was not a league at Blues Park last year.

Games will be played on Mondays in April and May.

Heavener City Manager said all the audits were up ytu date and he will meet with Keddo on obtaining a grant.

In the financial section, Clay Caughern of Wells and Wann said the HUA had another good meeting financially and the city showed a loss, but it was because of buying an excavator that cost $65,000.

Yandell also announced the Veterans Easter Egg hunt is at Blues Park at 2 p.m. on March 28.

The HUA did have to spend $40,000 on repairs to a lift station.

Clubb reported that bids will be accepted in April for repairs to Blues Park.

US Water is going to put a six-inch water line under the railroad near Highway 28 and run it on Highway 59 at a cost of $35,000, which will allow more customers to have water between the railroad and the highway.

This option was chosen instead of installing a two-inch line at a lower cost that would need to be replaced in a few years.

LeFlore County scoreboard for games played Thursday.

Baseball

Cameron 11, Stepheville, Texas 3

Haskell 7, Howe 3

Adair 10, Pocola 2

Leedey 10, Talihina 4

To make an addition or correction to this story or any story, please email NCAA[email protected].

The 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament kicked off with a bang on Thursday delivering plenty of drama, upsets, and memorable moments in the first round (Round of 64). It was a day full of March Madness magic, with several higher seeds surviving scares and a few shocking results that reshuffled brackets early.

The action started with No. 9 TCU edging out No. 8 Ohio State 66-64 in a tight contest, setting the tone for close games. No. 4 Nebraska made history by securing the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 1986, dominating No. 13 Troy 76-47. No. 6 Louisville held off a late push from No. 11 South Florida for an 83-79 victory, while No. 1 Duke—the overall top seed—overcame a halftime deficit to beat No. 16 Siena 71-65, avoiding what could have been a catastrophic upset.

The biggest stunner came when No. 12 High Point rallied from double digits down to upset No. 5 Wisconsin 83-82 in a thriller, marking the first major upset of the tournament. No. 11 VCU pulled off another shocker, defeating No. 6 North Carolina 82-78 in overtime after a furious comeback. No. 11 Texas also advanced by taking down No. 6 BYU 79-71.Other favorites rolled: No. 1 Michigan crushed No. 16 Howard 101-80, No. 3 Michigan State beat No. 14 North Dakota State 92-67, No. 4 Arkansas handled No. 13 Hawai'i 97-78, and No. 5 Vanderbilt topped No. 12 McNeese 78-68.The day wrapped with solid wins like Gonzaga 73-64 over Kennesaw State, Houston 78-47 over Idaho,

Saint Louis 102-77 over Georgia, and Illinois 105-70 over Penn.Thursday proved that anything can happen in March—upsets shook the bracket, but blue-blood programs mostly survived to fight another day.Looking ahead to Friday, the first round continues with another slate of 16 games (all times ET). Expect more intensity as top seeds look to avoid Thursday's pitfalls.Key matchups include:

Additional notable games feature No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 13 Hofstra, No. 8 Villanova vs. No. 9 Utah State, and No. 6 Tennessee vs. another opponent later in the day (full schedule varies by region and site, with games in Tampa, Philadelphia, San Diego, and St. Louis).

Hogs handle Hawai'i in NCAA Tournament Opener

Final Stats     

PORTLAND, Oregon. – Arkansas opened the NCAA Tournament in a flurry on Thursday afternoon inside the Moda Center, burying Hawai’i in the opening moments with an 11-0 run to start the game before cruising to an opening-round 97-78 victory. 

Darius Acuff Jr. finished with 24 points and seven rebounds while fellow freshman sensation Meleek Thomas added 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Together, Acuff and Thomas are the first freshman duo with at least 20 points and five assists in an NCAA Tournament game. 

Acuff continued to etch his name in the Arkansas record book, breaking Kareem Reid’s single-season and freshman school record for assists in a season with 223. Acuff also moved into second place on the school’s single-season points list with 781, only five points behind all-time leading scorer Todd Day’s 786 from his 1990-91 season. 

Also during the game, Trevon Brazile cracked the 1,000-point barrier as a Razorback, now with 1,013. Add is one year at Missouri, Brazile has scored 1,164 career points. 

The Razorbacks overwhelmed the Warriors in the first four minutes of the game, sprinting out to an 11-point lead before Hawai’i finally made its first basket of the day after missing the team’s first seven attempts from the floor. The freshman duo of Acuff and Thomas combined for nine of the Hogs’ 11 points in the opening run. The Arkansas lead grew to 19 points with just under 12 minutes remaining before the Warriors clawed back to within nine points. The Hogs, however, had an answer ending the half on an 8-0 run capped by dunks from a Billy Richmond III, Malique Ewin and Brazile. 

The Arkansas lead never fell below 11 points in the second half as the Razorbacks rolled into the second round. 

Five Hogs scored in double digits, led by Acuff’s 24 points and seven assists. Ewin notched a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds along with a career-best six assists. Thomas was impressive in his first NCAA Tournament game with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Brazile chipped in 19 points and Richmond 10 points. 

The Razorbacks improved to 12-0 this season and 17-0 under Coach Calipari when recording 20 assists as a team with 26 on Thursday afternoon, the most this season since registering 27 in a win over South Carolina. Hawai’i entered the game allowing opponents to dish out just 9.3 assists per game, tops in the NCAA. 

The win sets up a second-round matchup vs. 12-seed High Point, who upset 5-seed Wisconsin in dramatic fashion 83-82 earlier in the day. Game time for Saturday’s game against the Panthers will be determined later tonight.

OU Falls in Series Opener at LSU 

BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 8 Oklahoma dropped the series opener at LSU Thursday night in Baton Rouge by a final of 7-1.  

After LSU jumped out to a 5-0 lead through two innings, Oklahoma freshman Xander Mercurius hurled four scoreless frames to hold the Tiger offense at bay. OU would score one in the sixth on an error before LSU would add a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh. 

The Sooners would threaten in the eighth with a pair of two-out baserunners after a walk and base hit, but a deep fly out to left ended the chance. 

LSU starting right-handed pitcher Casan Evans went 7.2 innings and struck out a career-best 15 and had just one walk. It was the most strikeouts by a pitcher vs. the Sooners since 2009.  

OU starting left-handed pitcher Cameron Johnson took his first loss of the season, going 1.1 innings and surrendering five runs (one earned) on six walks and no hits to go with two strikeouts. Mercurius went a season-long five innings and gave up two runs on five hits with no walks and tied his career high with four K’s. 

Oklahoma’s four hits came from four different Sooners, while Jason Walk scored OU’s only run on the night.

Calendar of events for the next week for Heavener, LeFlore County, southeastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. The calendar is a free service for our readers. If you know of an event coming up, please CONTACT me.

Friday

Geraldine Brewer funeral service

Saturday

A V Skinner., Jr. service 

Ruby Naylor funeral services

High school baseball: Poteau at Jay;

Funeral service for Mary Lou (Steelman) Odom 

Sunday

Monday

LeFlore County commissioners meet 9 a.m.

High school baseball: Heavener at Holland Hall; Warner at Cameron; Haworth at Howe; Poteau at Muldrow; Whitesboro at Smithville

High school softball: Heavener at conference festival (Stigler); Cameron at Whitesboro

Tuesday

High school baseball: Holland Hall at Heavener; Cameron at Talihina; Porum, Clayton at Howe; Muldrow at Poteau; Whitesboro at Okay

High school softball: Heavener at conference festival (Stigler); Howe, Wister at Poteau; LeFlore at Cameron; Whitesboro at Panama; Muldrow at Spiro; Talihina at Stigler in Black Diamond Conference festival; 

High school soccer: Heavener at Hilldale

High school golf: Heavener at Keys Tournament

Poteau Evening Lions Club meet 6 p.m. CASC

Wednesday

Poteau Rotary Club meets noon EOMC

Thursday

Poteau Kiwanis Club meets noon EOMC

High school baseball: Heavener, Howe at Smithville Tournament; Cameron at Rattan Tournament; Westville at Poteau; Whitesboro vs. Plainview at Sulphur Tournament

High school softball: Heavener at Poteau; Whitesboro at Soper Tournament; Talihina at Webbers Falls Festival; Quinton at Howe;

High school soccer: Heavener girls at Cascia Hall

High school track: Heavener at Wilburton meet

Poteau Chamber of Commerce banquet

Heavener VFW bingo 6

Chronic wasting disease is in Oklahoma

By DEAN RUHL

STILLWATER – In February, a harvested deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Cimmaron County. This became the fourth deer in as many years to test positive for the disease in Oklahoma.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, neurodegenerative prion disease. Prions are misfolded proteins that lack DNA or RNA. CWD affects cervids such as white-tailed deer, mule deer and elk. Mark Turner, Oklahoma State University Extension wildlife specialist, helps explain the disease and what hunters need to know.  

“There is no cure for it,” Turner said. “There is no vaccine for it. In humans, it’s similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). In cows, there is mad cow disease.”

With the latest positive case, Turner offers tips to mitigate the disease. 

CWD has not been shown to infect humans

To this point, there is no evidence suggesting CWD is transmissible to humans, Turner said. However, it is possible the disease may affect humans at some point because of similarities to other prion diseases.

But that doesn’t mean caution shouldn’t be taken. If hunting in an area where CWD has been documented, Turner recommends getting harvested deer tested by local state agencies. This can be as simple as turning in the head of a harvested deer to a testing site. Testing sites are currently provided in CWD-positive areas. 

“There are no cases directly linking CWD in a deer to CJD in humans,” Turner said. “However, there certainly have been cases with humans contracting CJD associated with mad cow disease, so that gives us a little pause. We would not recommend eating meat from an animal infected with CWD.”

Because it is a prion-based disease, cooking the meat to the standard 165 degrees Fahrenheit to kill bacteria will not work. 

“The incinerators that are used to dispose of meat and other infected materials are cooking at well over 1,000 degrees,” Turner said. “There’s no way to cook it out of the environment.”

Symptoms aren’t always present

Late-stage CWD deer may present symptoms. The deer may be stumbling around aimlessly, showing signs of neurological damage. There can be extreme weight loss, excessive salivation and drooping ears, too. 

But CWD-positive deer don’t always display signs. As Turner explains, infected deer can live 12-18 months, during which their condition deteriorates slowly. From a disease-management perspective, the slow progression makes detection difficult.

“If you harvest a deer or see a deer on your property, you can’t always tell by looking at it whether it has CWD or not,” Turner said. “That’s why we recommend testing.”

If you see deer acting strangely, report it to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, via your local game warden or by calling 405-521-2739. 

Be vigilant with biosecurity

Deer generally do not move vast distances throughout their lives. The spread of CWD predominantly comes from people moving deer, alive or harvested, long distances.

If you are harvesting deer in a CWD-positive area, always de-bone your meat at the site of the kill or relatively close, Turner recommends. Avoiding moving animal parts, except for de-boned meat, is a great step hunters can take. 

The spread of the disease can be devastating for the deer population. As Turner explains, the impact will be minimal in the first few years. But over decades in a place like Wyoming, where CWD has been present for more than 40 years, there are dramatic decreases in deer survival. 

“This tends to decrease the age structure of the deer population,” Turner said. “Those animals can’t live very long. They’re not going to be productive, and you’re going to see decreases in the population.”

How this is transmitted 

This disease spreads primarily through animal-to-animal contact, through saliva and droppings.

But these prions are extremely resilient and can survive in the environment for years. If a CWD-positive deer dies and decomposes, new plants in that location can take up the disease, and if another deer eats those plants, it can become infected. 

“Prion diseases are a very different type of disease compared to either bacterial infections or viral infections,” Turner said. “They’re kind of their own thing, and unfortunately, right now these are always fatal [in deer].”

OSU Extension uses research-based information to help all Oklahomans solve local issues and concerns, promote leadership and manage resources wisely throughout the state's 77 counties. Most information is available at little to no cost.

Today in history

March 20 is the 79th days into the year. There are 286 days left in 2026.

Historically, March 20th is a day defined by profound literary shifts, scientific breakthroughs, and the complex echoes of modern warfare. It is also the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, marking the official start of spring.

Groundbreaking ceremony set for 2026 Showcase Home in Greenwood

GREENWOOD, Arkansas — The Greater Fort Smith Association of Home Builders (GFSAHB) will host the official groundbreaking ceremony for the 2026 Showcase Home on Friday at 11:30 AM at 1201 Twisted Oak Way in the East Village Subdivision in Greenwood.

This annual showcase highlights the craftsmanship and collaboration of local builders and industry professionals. The 2026 home will be constructed by L&L Development, with Buddy and Kyle Loyd serving as supervising contractors.

The Showcase Home is proudly presented by Arkansas Oklahoma Gas (AOG), with key partners including First National Bank (construction loan), WACO Title (title services), Brown Hiller Clark (insurance), and McGraw Realtors (real estate services).

The community, HBA members, and local leaders are invited to attend the ceremony as construction officially begins. The ribbon cutting will begin promptly at 11:30 AM, followed by lunch provided by First National Bank and McGraw Realtors—sure to be quite the spread.

“This project represents the strength of our local building industry and the partnerships that make it possible,” said DeAnne Hankins, Executive Officer of the GFS HBA. “We’re excited to kick off another Showcase Home and highlight the talent within our association.”

Additional contributors and project details will be announced as construction progresses.

Major Historical Events

The Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

On this day, Harriet Beecher Stowe published her anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in a newspaper, the book became a massive bestseller and a powerful catalyst for the abolitionist movement in the United States. It is famously credited by historians (and reportedly by Abraham Lincoln himself) with helping lay the groundwork for the American Civil War by humanizing the suffering of enslaved people for a global audience.

The General Theory of Relativity (1916)

Albert Einstein published "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity" in the journal Annalen der Physik. This revolutionary paper fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe, proposing that gravity is not a force in the traditional sense, but a curvature of space and time caused by mass and energy.

The Invasion of Iraq (2003)

Early in the morning on March 20, the United States and its coalition allies began Operation Iraqi Freedom with a "shock and awe" bombing campaign in Baghdad. The invasion led to the swift toppling of Saddam Hussein’s government but initiated a protracted conflict that would reshape Middle Eastern politics and global foreign policy for the next two decades.

Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack (1995)

In one of the most notorious acts of domestic terrorism in Japanese history, members of the cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin nerve gas on five different trains in the Tokyo subway system during rush hour. The attack killed 14 people and injured more than 6,000, leading to a massive crackdown on cult activities in Japan.

Notable Births

Notable Deaths