The Ledger/LCJ blog 5-20-2022

By CRAIG HALL

Welcome to the Ledger/LCJ blog for today.

Today is May 120, 2022. The 140th day of 2022. There are 225 days left in the year.

Thanks to everybody for joining us. If you like this, please share it with anybody you think might be interested. If you don’t care for it, let’s keep that between us and tell me why. We will try to do better next time.

The Heavener City Council approved bids totaling $105,350 for repairs at the Heavener Runestone Park in Thursday’s regular business meeting.

The repairs will be for the gift shop, community building, enclosure for the Runestone and a rock building.

In today’s weather forecast, we will have a mix of clouds and sun with winds gusting up to 35 mph during the day with scattered thunderstorms during the evening.

The high will be 87 degrees with a low of 72 degrees.

Sunrise is 6:11 a.m. Sunset is 8:19 p.m.

Averages temperatures for May 20 are a high of 82 and a low of 59. Record temperatures for the date were a high of 92 in 1998 and a record low of 46 in 1993.                                                                                                                          

On May 20, 2021, the high was 76 with a low of 67.

Thursday’s high was 89 with a low of 78.

Funeral service for Rebecca “Becky” Baughman, 94 of Mooreland is 10 a.m. Saturday at Mallory-Martin Chapel in Spiro with Reverend Phil McGehee officiating. Burial will follow at New Hope Cemetery in Spiro, under the direction of Mallory-Martin Funeral Home of Spiro.

She was born June 16, 1927 in Poteau and passed away May 18, 2022 in Mooreland. 

Luther Jay Clayton was born Feb 4, 1945 in Fort Coffee, to Velmond and Leberdie Clayton and passed away May 13, 2022 in Fort Coffee.

President Joe Biden is opening his trip to Asia with a focus on the computer chip shortage that has bedeviled the world economy, touring a Samsung computer chip plant that will serve as model for a $17 billion semiconductor factory that the Korean electronics company plans to open in Texas.

The visit Friday is a nod to one of Biden’s key domestic priorities of increasing the supply of computer chips. A semiconductor shortage last year hurt the availability of autos, kitchen appliances and other goods, causing higher inflation worldwide and crippling Biden’s public approval among U.S. voters.

The Senate has whisked a $40 billion package of military, economic and food aid for Ukraine and U.S. allies to final congressional approval, putting a bipartisan stamp on America’s biggest commitment yet to turning Russia’s invasion into a painful quagmire for Moscow.

The legislation, approved 86-11 Thursday was backed by every voting Democrat and most Republicans. While many issues under President Joe Biden have collapsed under party-line gridlock, Thursday’s lopsided vote signaled that both parties were largely unified about sending Ukraine the materiel it needs to fend off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s more numerous forces.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration told lawmakers Thursday that a shuttered baby formula factory could be up and running as soon as next week, though he sidestepped questions about whether his agency should have intervened earlier to address problems at the plant that have triggered the national shortage.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf faced a bipartisan grilling from House lawmakers over the baby formula issue that has angered American parents and become a major political liability for President Joe Biden.

Oklahoma lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill prohibiting all abortions with few exceptions, and providers said they would stop performing the procedure as soon as the governor signs it in the latest example of the GOP’s national push to restrict access to what has been a constitutional right for nearly a half century.

Oklahoma lawmakers this year already passed a half-dozen anti-abortion measures, and while abortion providers across the country have been bracing for the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court’s new conservative majority might further restrict the practice, that has especially been the case in Oklahoma and Texas.

In sports, Rory McIlroy was more interested in his own history in the majors than the peculiar heritage at Southern Hills on Thursday at the PGA Championship.

Southern Hills has proven to be favorable to frontrunners. As for McIlroy, he has failed to break par in the opening round 15 times in the 27 majors he has played since winning his last one.

So there was reason for that bounce in his step when he finished with an 18-foot birdie putt for a 5-under 65, giving him a one-shot lead at end of a warm and windy day.

The NBA Eastern Conference finals are all knotted up, the series about to shift to Boston with the Celtics now holding the home-court advantage.

Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown each had 24 and the Celtics went on a massive first-half run to roll past the Miami Heat 127-102 on Thursday night in Game 2 of the series.

The defending national champion Oklahoma softball team has been tabbed the No. 1 overall seed in the 2022 NCAA Division I Softball Championship and plays host to the NCAA Norman Regional at Marita Hynes Field, May 20-22.

The four-team, three-day event features Texas A&M (29-26, 6-18 SEC) facing Minnesota (26-24-1, 11-12 Big 10) at 4 p.m. CT Friday on ESPN2 before the Sooners take on Prairie View A&M (20-27, 16-8 SWAC) at 6:30 p.m. CT Friday on ESPN+.

Champions of the Big 12, the No. 6/7 the Oklahoma State softball team (41-12 overall, 17-4 Big 12) is the No. 7 national seed in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and hosts Atlantic 10 champion Fordham (30-20 overall), Big Ten champion Nebraska (40-14 overall) and Conference USA champion North Texas (35-14 overall) in the Stillwater Regional at Cowgirl Stadium from May 20-22.

Action starts at 5 p.m. Friday when Nebraska takes on North Texas. Oklahoma State battles Fordham at 7:30 p.m.

On this date in history, in 1956, the United States exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which was intended to encourage settlements west of the Mississippi River by making federal land available for farming.

In 1916, the Saturday Evening Post published its first Norman Rockwell cover; the illustration shows a scowling boy dressed in his Sunday best, dutifully pushing a baby carriage past a couple of boys wearing baseball uniforms.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on his historic solo flight to France.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. (Because of weather and equipment problems, Earhart set down in Northern Ireland instead of her intended destination, France.)

In 1961, a white mob attacked a busload of Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Alabama, prompting the federal government to send in U.S. marshals to restore order.

And today’s birthdays include Singer-actor Cher is 76; and former race car driver Tony Stewart is 51.

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