News;Ben Fenwick

A man who confessed to murdering his stepdaughter, Crystal Dittmeyer, died in Kentucky less than three years after being released from Oklahoma in a plea deal. Benjamin Harry Crider II, 49, of Marion, Ky., died in his home in Marion May 28, according to an obituary listed with the Crittendon Free Press. No cause of […]

The year 2003 was a heady one for the group of lobbyists who became known as “Team Abramoff,” and for one Oklahoma congressman. In addition to multiple meetings with then-White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and having a cozy golf-trip relationship with “The Hammer,” former House leader Tom DeLay, the group also had […]

Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe is claiming victory in the defeat of a bill aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change. The bill ” which would have capped carbon dioxide emissions but also allowed for the exchange of emissions “credits” between emitters ” fell short of 60 votes needed to override a filibuster […]

Former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr said the Libertarian Party just might be the party voters thought they were getting when they originally voted Republican ” a government that will leave you alone. But then, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate added, there is the catch if you want to be Libertarian in Oklahoma: State law won’t […]

Former Oklahoma House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, issued a statement late Wednesday saying he will not file for re-election in 2008. The announcement comes months after Cargill stepped down from the Speaker position when he admitted he was late paying state taxes. However, Cargill did not mention this or any reason for his decision not […]

Former Oklahoma Congressman Ernest Istook’s chief of staff has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with a bribery scandal involving disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. John Albaugh, who worked for Istook from 1993 to 2006, pleaded guilty as part of an agreement with the department’s continuing lobbying scandal […]

Carmelite Sisters of the Villa Teresa Catholic School in Moore delivered a letter and a petition to Gov. Brad Henry’s office today urging him to sign a bill banning dog kennels operating within 2,500 feet of a school or daycare center. The school’s principal, Sister Veronica Higgins, said the bill ” Senate Bill 1574 ” […]

Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn said the Republican presdiential candidate John McCain is “an old fart,” but is singularly qualified to lead the country. The remarks came Wednesday during a town hall Q-and-A session before a Kiwanis Club luncheon at Rose State College in Midwest City. Coburn gave a brief speech outlining issues he said the […]

In 1921, a monk with an art collection purchased two mummies and other artifacts in New York City and brought it to Shawnee’s St. Gregory’s Abbey before making a permanent home at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art. One of the antiquities, M-G No. 2, will make a trip  to the Indian nation in Idabel, where […]

The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals upheld an $18 million verdict against the OU Medical Center, Children’s Hospital and the parent owner of the hospitals, HCA Health Services of Oklahoma Inc., for injuries an infant received while staying at Children’s Hospital. The three-judge opinion not only agreed with the trial court as to the hospital’s […]