News Stories

Lawton Constitution - Mitch Meador

ELGIN — The audience waited expectantly as the tracks of Serial No. 003 M109A7 howitzer turned slowly at first, then faster as it rolled out onto an open stretch of concrete.

The three-member crew inside spun the nextgeneration Paladin around 360 degrees and elevated the tube as onlookers recorded videos of its performance on their phones.

The Oklahoman - Chris Casteel

Rep. Tom Cole returned from the Middle East on Friday and said the Obama administration’s framework for a nuclear deal with Iran could set off an arms race in an already fragile region.

“It’s a region in turmoil, a very dangerous turmoil,” Cole, R-Moore, said in an interview. “The other countries aren’t going to sit there in the region and say, ‘Iran can develop (nuclear weapons), and we can’t.’”

The Oklahoman - Editorial Board

NO, U.S. Rep. Tom Cole isn’t bored and simply looking for a challenge. Instead Cole, R-Moore, says his decision to try to come up with a way to keep Social Security afloat is based on a firm belief that it can be done.

“The problem is it’s easily fixed,” Cole said in an interview last week. “It’s the politics that’s hard.”

The Oklahoman - Chris Casteel

In an extraordinary display of bipartisanship, the House voted Thursday to remake a troublesome system for paying the doctors who treat Medicare patients.

Primarily aimed at giving physicians some financial certainty each year, the legislation also will end the frequent last-minute congressional patches to a law that has caused problems for many years. The bill passed 392 to 37 and now goes to the Senate.

The Hill - Tim Devaney

The National Labor Relations Board is still grappling with the fallout from last year’s defeat at the Supreme Court, the board chairman told lawmakers Tuesday.

In a case known as NLRB v. Noel Canning, the high court last June overturned a set of President Obama’s recess appointments to the labor board, concluding he overstepped in exerting his authority to fill vacancies while the Senate was technically in session.

Norman Transcript - Sarah Kirby

Twenty-seven business and city leaders had one goal during their annual fly-in to Washington, D.C.: Remind federal legislators what matters to the city of Norman and hear what’s happening in the nation’s Capitol.

From March 2-4, the group of Norman Chamber of Commerce members — one of the biggest in recent history — met with U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Sen. James Lankford, U.S. Rep. Steve Russell and Sen. James Inhofe for policy briefings.

USA Today - Susan Davis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flattered Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, paid respect to President Obama and received nearly two dozen standing ovations from lawmakers gathered in the House chamber.

However, he did not placate top Democrats who continued to see his Tuesday address as a diplomatic foul against the administration amid international negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

The Oklahoman - Chris Casteel

President Barack Obama on Wednesday asked Congress for official permission to use military force against the Islamic State, but some Democrats called the president’s proposal too broad and Republicans complained of its limitations.

Six months after the United States military began conducting air strikes against the brutal Islamic organization that has occupied land in Iraq and Syria, the president requested a three-year authorization specific to the conflict.