Stitt described the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) decision to terminate the teachers as “misguided” and said the mandate itself was illegal. “They were fired because they wouldn’t follow an illegal mask mandate issued by their superintendent,” Stitt said. “This is preposterous. Especially in a time when talented teachers are needed more than ever.” Stitt went on to suggest that OKCPS Superintendent Sean McDaniel “wanted to fire them to make a point....

The linebacker suffered three broken vertebrae attempting to make a first-quarter tackle against Blanchard High School. He collapsed on the field and was immediately rushed to the hospital, where he underwent surgery early Saturday morning. Haws was able to move his arms over the weekend, but still has no feeling or movement below his chest. MORE: Best images of Week 8 in college football “Lot of tears have been shed, lot of prayers have been lifted up,” Dr....

Two of the Big 12’s more successful teams in recent memory have seen a historic disparity on the field, one that has seen a continuation in the Mike Gundy and Lincoln Riley eras. MORE: SN’s post-spring top 25 The Sooners are coming off their third straight Bedlam win in 2017, including a 1-0 start for Riley in Norman. What can the Cowboys do to make headway in the rivalry?...

Kiefer, Oklahoma, police chief Johnny O’Mara shared an image of one of the cups on Facebook Thursday in a post that subsequently went viral. O’Mara said one of his officers went to Starbucks to purchase coffees for all the dispatchers working on Thanksgiving and wrote, “This is what he gets for being nice.” “What irks me is the absolute and total disrespect for a police officer who, instead of being home with family and enjoying a meal and a football game, is patrolling his little town,” wrote O’Mara....

Stitt, a Republican, made the comments after the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) was required to issue a birth certificate with a nonbinary gender label following a lawsuit. “I believe that people are created by God to be male or female. Period,” he said in a statement. “There is no such thing as non-binary sex and I wholeheartedly condemn the purported OSDH court settlement that was entered into by rogue activists who acted without receiving proper approval or oversight....

Old-flag supporters report raising only $7,646, but the huge money difference may not matter: opposition to the new flag has spread mostly by word of mouth. Former governor William Winter concedes that the polls “are not encouraging” but said he still hoped for a strong showing from closet moderates. “A lot of people just don’t want to announce how they’re going to vote,” Winter said. “There’s a lot of intimidation out there....

The 6-4, 296-pound junior defensive tackle was the No. 1 high school player in the class of 2013 and is a likely first-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. He’s also a freak of an athlete. So the Rebels lined Nkemdiche up as a fullback on third-and-2 in the second quarter of Saturday’s opener against UT Martin, ran play action, then dumped it off to him in the flat. He took it 31 yards for the score, looking like a natural tight end as he flew down the sideline past Skyhawks defense, which had little interest in bringing him down....

Born in Tokyo and raised in Britain, the actor is probably best known for her role as the kindhearted Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in the award-winning 1939 film Gone With the Wind, which set her on the Oscars path. She later picked up two Academy Awards for Best Actress, for her roles in 1946’s To Each His Own and 1949’s The Heiress. Twice married and the mother to two children—Benjamin Goodrich and Gisèle Galante—de Havilland has enjoyed as active a life behind the camera as she’s had in front of it....

The 2021 Olympics will debut a new format that breaks teams into three groups of four instead of two groups of six. That means the gold-medal winning team will play fewer games this time around, but the path to the stand won’t be easy. So, how does this whole thing work? Here’s an explanation of the basketball tournament format at the Tokyo Olympics. MORE: Full day-by-day Olympic basketball schedule...

Asik, who missed two games because of a perfectly timed "illness," practiced with the team on Monday after days of being unavailable, according to the Houston Chronicle. When Asik finally enters the lineup Tuesday, it will mark the end of a stint during which he played only four minutes. He saw brief on-court action against the Philadelphia 76ers last week and sat out of games against the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, for which Asik wasn't even on the bench....

This announcement comes as Omicron cases are surging across the country; health officials reporting cases are doubling every two to three days. Omicron is set to soon overtake the Delta variant as the U.K.’s leading coronavirus strain. Though the December 31 goal only applies to England, Johnson stressed that all parts of the U.K. should speed up their booster rollout. Johnson said Monday that the U.K. recently confirmed its first Omicron death, and 10 are currently hospitalized with the variant....

Long gone are the sleepy college counseling centers of decades past where therapists administered career-aptitude tests and offered tip sheets for handling roommate conflicts. Today, acknowledging their role on the front lines of the teen-depression crisis, counselors and psychologists at the nation’s colleges and universities are doing more to try to help the rising numbers of students they see with clinical depression and other acute mental illnesses. According to a national survey conducted last year, 85 percent of college counseling centers are reporting an increase in the number of students they see with “severe psychological problems,” up from 56 percent in 1988....

One day after this call with NATO member leaders, Biden is scheduled to speak via a video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine issue, as well as on Iran’s nuclear program, cybersecurity and other issues that concern both countries. Putin is apparently seeking promises from Biden to stop NATO’s expansion into Ukraine, according to the Kremlin, although Biden has not indicated any such promises. According to a Biden administration official, Biden is also set to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his call with Putin....

Getting started: The logical starting point is the airport in Norfolk, Va., served by Southwest Airlines. You can rent a compact car here for no more than $140 per week with unlimited mileage, even in peak season. Call ahead to the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau (877-629-4386) for its 112-page visitors’ guide. Day 1: From the Norfolk airport, take I-64, Route 168 and then U.S. 158 south. The 70-mile drive passes through mostly flat coastal farm country....

In the 36th minute, Boutaib netted his 12th league goal of the season to draw Malatyaspor level after the hosts had gone ahead through a Burak Yilmaz 24th-minute penalty. After the break, Yusuf Yazici registered a brace to put Trabzonspor firmly in the driving seat before Onazi completed the rout with four minutes left of regular time. The goal will boost the morale of the former Lazio defensive midfielder ahead of Nigeria’s friendlies against Poland and Serbia on March 23 and 27 respectively after coach Gernot Rohr recently raised concerns about his lack of regular playing time at his club....

Oncology social workers are skilled professionals who provide emotional, psychological, social, and practical support for cancer patients. They help patients navigate different resources and unpack useful information. These experts address the patient as a whole, instead of only focusing on medical treatment. This article discusses the role of oncology social workers as advocates for people with cancer. What Do Oncology Social Workers Do? Oncology social workers perform a wide range of services, some of which include:...

MORE: Manning’s possible next moves, ranked | STEELE: Peyton, get while the gettin’s good There’s still no indication which way Manning might be leaning. Amid all the Super Bowl accolades, Manning is also at the center of a report detailing a sexual harassment incident 20 years ago at the University of Tennessee involving an athletic trainer. Manning hasn’t commented on that report, either.

The slayings terrified Salisbury Township, a trim, middle-class suburb of Allentown, Pa. But relatives and others who knew the family seemed unsurprised by the explosion of mindless violence. The boys’ grandfather, Nelson Birdwell Sr., said Bryan and David had ““looked like monsters’’ since becoming skinheads about two years earlier. Bryan is 6 feet tall and weighs 215 pounds; his brother David, still baby-faced, is 6 feet 3 and weighs 245 pounds....

The job that still belongs to unsigned no-show Ryan Fitzpatrick, keep in mind, belonged to Smith until he was punched. New offensive coordinator Chan Gailey was going to help elevate the third-year quarterback, not the 11-year journeyman. New York would not be much worse off with Smith behind center, if at all, in 2016. But one attribute, or lack thereof, might be the reason the Jets remain so fixed on Fitz: Smith’s inconsistency....

That is, not an inability to dribble or shoot but without a hand at all. MORE: Block of the year | Florida wins opener | VCU player suffers seizure Florida Gators walk on Zach Hodskins was born without his left hand and on opening night, he finally got to show the crowd in Gainesville that he can play. He only had one shot attempt, a missed layup but that he’s playing at a collegiate level is absolutely incredible....