By Brianna Bailey, The Norman Transcript
Spring is in the air and the job market is being flooded with new college graduates. Oklahoman reporter and former Norman Transcript staffer Jane Glenn Cannon offered a column choked full of sagely advice for recent grads earlier this week.

By John M. Wylie II, Oologah Lake Leader
County Commissioner Mike Helm requires adult supervision. Fortunately Helms’ responsible colleagues in Districts 1 and 3 – Dan DeLozier and Kirt Thacker – have started providing intensive babysitting.

By Andy Rieger, The Norman Transcript
When family members buried their beloved Evel Knievel this month, the dreams and antics of an entire generation were placed in the cold ground with him. Evel's stunt jumps in the late '60s inspired us to take risks …

By John M. Wylie II, Oologah Lake Leader
Americans staged a Revolution and threw out the British because they would not tolerate taxation without representation. In fact, they had a little tea party in Boston Harbor to make sure the message was heard.

By Mike Tupa, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
Sometimes heroes have nothing to do with winning or losing. Of course, that depends on how one defines victory. I was saddened to read about the passing last Tuesday of John Woodruff.

By John M. Wylie II, Oologah Lake Leader
County Commissioner Mike Helm requires adult supervision. Fortunately Helms’ responsible colleagues in Districts 1 and 3—Dan DeLozier and Kirt Thacker—have started providing intensive babysitting.

By Jeff Mullin, Enid News & Eagle
What are your core values? What do you base your life upon? How do you structure your life, and what yardstick do you measure your life against? All are good questions, but none is especially easy to answer.

By David Gerard, Muskogee Phoenix
More sensible minds and softer hearts have redeemed some of Oklahoma's dignity. State Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Tulsa, said he would accept gift copies of the Quran that 24 other state legislators have chosen not to accept. Sullivan said he would find homes for them.

By Barb Walter, The Hennessey Clipper
Our community couldn't save Gavin. We don't know why. We have been able to save other children and or now, that's going to have to comfort us. We can't imagine how we can help console his family.

By John M. Wylie III, Oologah Lake Leader
As we mark the sixth anniversary of the tragedy of 9-11, we can begin to measure the true cost of the fallout to the nation. It is staggering.

By Barb Walter, The Hennessey Clipper
When we first got married we finished each others sentences and thought it was fate. After 36 years of marriage, when we finish one another's sentence, the other one gets ... irate.

By Wayne Trotter, The Tecumseh Countywide News
By instinct and training, most Oklahomans are tough, practical people. They know that when trouble comes calling, it's mostly up to individuals to deal with the consequences themselves.

By Wayne Trotter, The Tecumseh Countywide News
The countdown has started. Only about two weeks remain until Oklahoma joins a lot of the rest of the civilized world by instituting its first-ever back-to-school sales tax holiday. All this started with a three-day $100 clothing exemption in Texas in 1999 and spread like wildfire.

By Jeff Mullin, Enid News & Eagle
A lot of people in the world don't like America. That's what they tell pollsters from the Pew Research Center, at least. America's approval rating dropped from 75 percent in Great Britain in 2002 to 51 percent in 2007, according to the survey.

By Jeff Mullin, Enid News & Eagle
It's not often one stands face to face with a force so terrible it has been known to reduce grown men to tears. I did, and lived to tell about it. It was Monday when I found myself confronted by one of the most powerful, most fearsome entities on earth - a room full of 4-year-olds.

By David Gerard, Muskogee Phoenix
If Oklahoma legislators don't want to see microchips inserted into the bodies of Oklahomans, then they certainly shouldn't start by allowing them to be inserted into people convicted of violent crimes.

By Brianna Bailey, The Norman Transcript
Spring is in the air and the job market is being flooded with new college graduates. Oklahoman reporter and former Norman Transcript staffer Jane Glenn Cannon offered a column choked full of sagely advice for recent grads earlier this week… Well, I've got some advice for those aged veterans of life who have to deal with that new, hotshot young whippersnapper at the office, still wet behind her eternally iPod-bedecked ears.

By David Gerard, Muskogee Phoenix
Wagoner County Sheriff Johnny Cannon should face a suspension for his early release of a cousin arrested on a DUI complaint.

By Jeff Mullin, Enid News & Eagle
We're No. 47. That's not exactly the kind of chant emanating from proud supporters of successful athletic teams. A smaller number is generally more highly prized, like No. 1.

By David Gerard, Muskogee Phoenix
Muskogee needs an alien. I vacationed in New Mexico the week before last, and Roswell's downtown prospers because of an alien.

By David Gerard, Muskogee Phoenix
Well, it's Utah's problem now. That's what's nice about this mobile world. If we can crate or can something we don't want, we can ship it somewhere else.

By Wayne Trotter, Tecumseh Countywide News
This notion of consolidating the efforts of several organizations in an attempt to improve the Shawnee area's capacity to effectively attract and retain industries, other businesses and jobs is a bad idea which good people keep bringing up. The board of directors of the Greater Shawnee Area Chamber of Commerce did the right thing when it rejected the most recent renewal last week.

By Jeff Mullin, Enid News & Eagle
Joshua Frazier died Tuesday. His death went relatively unnoticed, particularly when compared to the media frenzy that followed the untimely demise of Anna Nicole Smith.

By Wayne Trotter, Tecumseh Countywide News
The last thing in the world we want to do is get in a fight with the five good people who just started running the Tecumseh City Council. But if the council members are going to play silly word games while skirting the clear intent of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act on something as vitally important as choosing a new city manager, they're buying their own trouble.

By Andy Rieger, The Norman Transcript
Richard Melot's regrets are few these days. He just wishes he had written down some of the things that have happened in his nearly 27 years operating the Hollywood Texaco, a full-service gas station at McGee and Lindsey Streets. There's the one about the man who entered the women's restroom and came out dressed as a woman.

By David Gerard, Muskogee Phoenix
As well-intentioned as a tax credit for stay-at-home moms may be, it's not such a good idea. State House leaders are proposing a child care tax credit, which would cost the state about $20 million annually in revenue, to support stay-at-home mothers.