Ledger/LCJ blog 12-31-2021
Hello this is the Ledger/LCJ blog for today with the latest news, sports and more.
Today is Friday, Dec. 31, 2021. This is the 365th day of 2021. This is the last day of the year. We wish all of you a happy new year and to be safe.
A strong cold front is expected to move into eastern Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas, starting Friday.
Strong to severe storms will be possible Friday night and Saturday morning, mainly across southeast Oklahoma into west central Arkansas. Damaging wind gusts could occur with the strongest storms. An isolated tornado is possible. Higher potential is expected to be along and south of a line from Antlers to Fort Smith to Ozark.
Temperatures will start falling during Saturday morning and early afternoon farther south and east. Temperatures will continue to fall through Sunday morning with most locations seeing temperatures in the teens. Dangerous wind chills around 5 below zero to five above zero are expected late Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Minimum wage increases, animal protections, police accountability, cutting and increasing taxes are all part of a series of new laws taking effect across the country on Saturday, the first day of 2022.
In sports, Pocola’s boys captured the championship of the Bill Frye Invitational Tournament Thursday with a 68-47 win over Hackett.
The Indians improve to 7-1. Both Pocola teams return to action Tuesday at home against Talihina.
Occasional rain showers through the afternoon Friday, before showers and thunderstorms arrive later, with the possibility of severe thunderstorms. There is a 100 percent chance of precipitation.
A flash flood watch is in effect through Saturday at noon.
Thursday’s high was 67, with a low of 44.
Sunrise Friday at 7:26 a.m. Sunset is 5:17 p.m.
On the county calendar for today, memorial services for Lynn Atkins, 69, are 11 a.m. Friday at the First Assembly of God Church in Bokoshe, with Reverends Doyle Martin and Lynn Bullard officiating.
Charles Milton Lile, Sr., 80, of Heavener was born March 3, 1941 in Heavener to Samuel Glenn and Bessie Beatrice (Lewis) Lile. He passed away Thursday in Heavener.
Funeral services are 2 p.m. Monday at Dowden-Roberts Funeral Home Chapel in Heavener with Brother David Hardin and Brother Joey Bottoms officiating. Burial will follow in Heavener Memorial Park, with military honors by the Tinker AFB Honor Guard, under the direction of Dowden-Roberts Funeral Home of Heavener.
On this date in history, in 2019, the health commission in the central Chinese city of Wuhan announced that experts were investigating an outbreak of respiratory illness and that most of the victims had visited a seafood market in the city; the statement said 27 people had become ill with a strain of viral pneumonia and that seven were in serious condition.
In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, the British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec.
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an enabling act paving the way for Virginia’s western counties to become the state of West Virginia, which took place in June 1863.
In 1879, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light by illuminating some 40 bulbs at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
In 1904, New York’s Times Square saw its first New Year’s Eve celebration, with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance.
In 1946, President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
In 1972, Major League baseball player Roberto Clemente, 38, was killed when a plane he chartered and was traveling on to bring relief supplies to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua crashed shortly after takeoff from Puerto Rico.
In 1985, singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year’s Eve performance in Dallas.
In 2010, tornadoes fueled by unusually warm air pummeled the South and Midwest, killing a total of eight people in Arkansas and Missouri.
Today’s birthdays include: Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins is 84; Actor Sir Ben Kingsley is 78; Actor Tim Matheson is 74; Actor Val Kilmer is 62; Author Nicholas Sparks is 56; and Donald Trump Jr. is 44.
We ask you to please check out today’s newsletter at heavenerledger.substack.com. This is our free Friday edition, so everything is available. If you like it, subscribe for only $5 a month or $50 a year. If you don’t care for it, let me know and we will try to make it better.
Also, please share this with anybody you think might be interested.
If you or your business want to sponsor one of our sections, email craig@heavenerledger.com if you want to get started.
We need your help to increase our subscribers. We would like to have 1,000 for either our newsletter www.heavenerledger.substack.com or our e-edition at www.heavenerledger.com. Cost per month is less than a meal at any restaurant.
Your support of a locally owned and operated business is very important and appreciated.
To sponsor the Ledger/LCJ podcast or blog, email craig@heavenerledger.com.
