LAWTON – In a longstanding military tradition, tokens known as challenge coins are presented to service men and women to recognize exceptional achievement. Lawton Public Schools continued that custom April 30, when the school district presented challenge coins to 21 local high school students who are planning to join the armed services after graduation.

LAWTON – The following students were honored April 30 at Lawton Public Schools’ Salute to Service. Students are listed by their high school and their chosen branch of military service.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Lawmakers are taking a second look at a controversial plan that could use state dollars to supplement the salaries of sheriffs, deputies and jailers working in some of the poorest counties.

LAWTON – Prosecutors and county commissioners in southwest Oklahoma are seeking to build a first-rate opioid treatment center. The facility would be built with settlement funds from lawsuits filed against national pharmaceutical companies for their role in promoting the opioid drug crisis.

OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal district judge in Arizona denied multiple attempts to dismiss and delay a bipartisan lawsuit 49 state attorneys general filed against Avid Telecom, its owner and its vice president.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Job growth slowed last month and unemployment in Oklahoma and nationally increased the first week of this month, stoking optimism for an interest rate reduction by the Federal Reserve this summer as fears of an overheated economy wane.

Kenvue Inc. shares climbed after the maker of Band-Aid and Listerine topped Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets and announced staff reductions.

Oklahoma hospitals are seeing a financial bump as the Oklahoma Health Care Authority makes the first of a new payment type under SoonerSelect, the state’s new managed care system for Medicaid. The so-called enhanced directed payments are an addition to a program already in place that taxes hospitals based on their patient revenue to attract more federal money.

Bills to charge more shoplifting offenses as felonies and mandate lenient prison sentences for domestic violence survivors are in limbo with three weeks to go in the legislative session, but several other criminal justice measures have been signed into law.

DUNCAN – Prepping a fair barn rodeo arena into a white tableclothed dinner venue for up to 800 visitors will be the challenge for the Stephens County Republican Party’s group of volunteers this week as Stephens County GOP hosts its 20th annual Fish Fry.