LCJ newsletter 1-10-2025

Friday's newsletter

Craig Hall

Jan 10, 2025

A winter wonderland early Friday morning, looking south from my front porch.

Today’s Bible verse

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Matthew 18:20

Daily inspirational thought

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."

- Aristotle

Blast from the past

Noah Davis, now the Heavener girls’coach, goes up for a basket in a win over Hartshorne in 2015. If you have an older picture to submit, email to craig@heavenerledger.com.

Winter storm prompts state of emergency

DALLAS (AP) — A powerful winter storm that dumped heavy snow and glazed roads with ice across much of Texas and Oklahoma lumbered eastward into southern U.S. states overnight, prompting governors to declare states of emergency and shuttering schools across the region.

See the whole story HERE.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The two biggest wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area have killed at least 10 people and burned more than 10,000 homes and other structures, officials said as they urged more people to heed evacuation orders after a new blaze ignited and quickly grew.

The Kenneth Fire started in the late Thursday afternoon in the San Fernando Valley just 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from a school serving as a shelter for evacuees from another fire. It moved into neighboring Ventura County but a large and aggressive response by firefighters stopped the flames from spreading.

See the whole story HERE.

TikTok’s fate arrives at Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) — In one of the most important cases of the social media age, free speech and national security collide at the Supreme Court on Friday in arguments over the fate of TikTok, a wildly popular digital platform that roughly half the people in the United States use for entertainment and information.

TikTok says it plans to shut down the social media site in the U.S. by Jan. 19 unless the Supreme Court strikes down or otherwise delays the effective date of a law aimed at forcing TikTok’s sale by its Chinese parent company.

See the whole story HERE.

Oglesby helps ORU win in double OT

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota - Oral Roberts women outlasted the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in a late-night double-overtime showdown, earning their first double-overtime win since 2011.

Taleyah Jones tied her season-high, scoring 29 points on the night while securing her third straight 20+ point game. Jones also brough in five rebounds and made five threes in the process. Jalei Oglesby followed Jones, recording 21 points on the night while grabbing six rebounds. Makyra Tramble was one assist and two rebounds away from her first career double-double, racking up 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

With 2:20 into the first quarter, Meghan Weinrich knocked down a jump shot before Jalei Oglesby of Howe went on a 9-0 run of her own as ORU fell behind 11-16. With 2:13 left in the first, Makyra Tramble hit a three to cut the Fighting Hawk lead to two before Weinrich went 1-2 from the line. North Dakota held a three-point lead after one (17-20).

The first eight points of the second quarter were scored by Taleyah Jones who was just starting to heat up. Gentry Baldwin hit a triple that gave ORU a one-point lead (28-27) before UND went on an 8-0 run of their own. Jones' 13-point quarter helped ORU stay close behind the Fighting Hawks heading into the half (37-41).

Coming out of the break, Taleyah Jones continued her hot streak, knocking down another jumper 12 seconds into the second half. With 6:58 left in the quarter, Meghan Weinrich scored her fifth point of the game to level the score at 43. Makyra Tramble proceeded to make two layups while knocking down three free throws to cut the UND lead to one heading into the final ten minutes of regulation.

Taleyah Jones and Jalei Oglesby were clutch down the stretch in the fourth, scoring 12 of the Golden Eagles final 14 points. The Fighting Hawks held an eight-point lead with 3:23 to play before Jones hit her fourth three of the game and Oglesby tipped in a layup, cutting the Golden Eagles' deficit to five. ORU held UND scoreless in the final 2:29 of regulation before sparking a 7-0 to send the game to overtime.

Overtime started poorly for the Golden Eagles as a 5-0 run from the Fighting Hawks quickly diminished their momentum (74-79). Ruthie Udoumoh sunk a pair of free throws before grabbing a steal and assisting a Meghan Weinrich layup. Down 80-81, Jones sunk a clutch three with 1:10 to go in the first overtime period (83-81) before two free throws on the other end tied the game at 83.

The Golden Eagles lived at the line during the second overtime period, knocking down ten free throws to UND's four in the five-minute period. Emily Robinson iced the game with 45 seconds left on the clock, making her first shot of the game when it mattered the most.

Notre Dame outlasts Penn State

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida — Notre Dame is headed back to the national title game.

On Thursday night, the Irish defeated Penn State in a 27-24 thriller that came down to the final possession. With 12 seconds left in a 24-24 game with a trip to the national championship game on the line, Mitch Jeter drilled a 41-yard field goal to send Notre Dame to Atlanta, giving the Irish the 27-24 victory over Penn State.

Just 21 seconds earlier, Christian Gray came up with the biggest play in his young career, intercepting a Drew Allar pass with 33 seconds left at the Penn State 42-yard line to set up the game-winning score.

The Irish offense racked up 267 yards passing on the evening, its highest output in a game this season. Jaden Greathouse was a big reason, posting a career-high 105 yards on seven catches, with 98 yards coming in the second half to help lead Notre Dame to the victory.

A crucial stat of the game was third down efficiency, as Notre Dame converted 11-of-17 attempts while the Irish defense held the Nittany Lions to just 3-of-11.

Notre Dame will play the winner of Ohio State and Texas in the title game at 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The game will air on ESPN.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Gray pick came after a back and forth game with a pair of lead changes and three ties. Notre Dame was in a 10-0 hole to start the game, and the Nittany Lions were moving the ball at will, however, the Irish defense did enough to keep the team in the game and allowed just one touchdown and a field goal over the first 30 minutes of play.

Quarterback Riley Leonard exited the game with 1:35 to go in the second quarter after taking a hit from Zane Durant and Dvon J-Thomas. Steve Angeli took over behind a dwindling offensive line — Anthonie Knapp left the game with an ankle injury just prior — but completed his first four passes. The drive ended with an Angeli sack, but Notre Dame got on the board with a 41-yard field goal from Jeter. It was 10-3 in favor of the Nittany Lions heading into the halftime break.

Leonard returned to the game to start the second half and the Irish offense stormed back with a vengeance, as Jeremiyah Love had three consecutive runs, two of which went for 9 yards. Williams caught a 36-yard pass on a wheel route followed by a 15-yard run from Williams to set the Irish up for a Leonard touchdown run to level the game at 10-10. It was Notre Dame’s 43rd rushing touchdown of the year, surpassing the previous record of 42 set in 1989.

Notre Dame forced a three-and-out on the following drive, seizing all the momentum early in the third quarter. The two sides then traded possessions before the Irish pieced together a 10-play, 72-yard touchdown drive to take their first lead of the game at 17-10 with 14:07 remaining in the game.

The key play on the drive was a 17-yard pickup on a reception from Greathouse on 3rd-and-9. Love had a highlight touchdown run from two-yards out to put an exclamation point on the possession, his team-high 17th rushing touchdown of the season.

Penn State responded immediately, scoring 14 unanswered points off two rushing touchdowns from Nicholas Singleton with an interception from Dani Dennis-Sutton sandwiched between the two scores to put the Nittany Lions back in front at 24-17 with 7:55 left on the clock.

The Irish answered right back, using a huge 54-yard touchdown pass from Leonard to Greathouse to tie the game at 24-24 with 4:38 remaining.

Notre Dame’s defense rose to the occasion, forcing a three-and-out on the next possession and the Irish offense drove into Penn State territory before having to punt from the opposition’s 48-yard line with just under a minute left, setting up Gray’s heroic interception that led to Jeter’s game-winning field goal.

NFL moves playoff game to Arizona

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The NFL has moved the Rams’ wild-card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings to Arizona after days of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

The game will be played Monday night at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals, in suburban Glendale.

See story HERE.

More snow expected Friday morning

More snow is expected Friday morning, before the snow tapers off and gives way to cloudy skies this afternoon.

A weather warning continues until noon. Combined with yesterday’s snow, a total of seven to 11 inches of snow is possible.

For road conditions in Oklahoma, call (844) 465-4997 or visit okRoads.org. Road conditions in Arkansas are available by calling (800) 245-1672 or visiting idrivearkansas.com.

The high is forecast to be 36 degrees with a low of 18.

Sunrise was 7:26 a.m. Sunset is 5:26 p.m.

Thursday’s high was 30 with a low of 28. A total of .77 inches of precipitation was recorded, leaving the monthly total at 0.90 inches, still short of January’s average rainfall of 3.10 inches.

Average temperatures for Jan. 10 are a high of 51 and low of 22. Records for the date were a high of 69 in 1975. The record low was -19 in 1977.

Last year on Jan. 10, the high was 60 with a low of 29.

LeFlore County calendar

LeFlore County calendar of events for the next week. The calendar is a free service for our readers. If you are a church or non-profit event, please email me at craig@heavenerledger.com.

Friday

High school basketball: Hartshorne at Heavener; Pocola, Spiro at Warner Tournament; Talihina at Tushka Tournament; Panama, Wister at Rock Island Conference Tournament

Saturday

Memorial service for Janice Falkner

High school basketball: Howe at Poteau; Pocola, Spiro at Warner Tournament; Talihina at Tushka Tournament; Panama, Wister at Rock Island Conference Tournament

Monday

LeFlore County commissioners meet 9 a.m.

Junior high basketball LCT

High school board meetings

Tuesday

Junior high basketball LCT

High school basketball: Heavener at Talihina; Cameron at Arkoma; Howe at Westville; Red Oak at LeFlore; Panama at Warner; Pocola at Stigler; Muldrow at Poteau; Union Christian Academy at Spiro; Smithville at Whitesboro

Poteau Evening Lions Club meet 6 p.m. CASC

Wednesday

Poteau Rotary Club meets noon EOMC

Thursday

Poteau Kiwanis Club meets noon

Heavener VFW bingo 6:30 p.m. Highway 59 North

High school basketball: Howe at LeFlore; Battiest at Talihina

HUA, City Council meet 6 p.m.

Today in history

1901

Gusher signals new era of U.S. oil industry

On January 10, 1901, a drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas, produces an enormous gusher of crude oil, coating the landscape for hundreds of feet and signaling the advent of the American oil industry. The geyser was discovered at a depth of over 1,000 feet, flowed at an initial... read more

19th Century

1843

Outlaw Frank James born in Missouri

1920s

1920

League of Nations instituted

American Revolution

1776

Thomas Paine publishes “Common Sense”

Art, Literature and Film History

2000

AOL-Time Warner merger announced