Associated Press

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — A Fort Smith-based poultry company plans to hire 182 people as part of a $7 million expansion of its processing facilities.

OK Industries officials said Friday the company wants to hire 110 employees in Fort Smith and another 72 in Heavener, Okla. Company spokeswoman Donna Miller says priority in hiring will be given to those who were laid off last year.

Officials say the majority of added jobs will be in deboning plant positions, which use both mechanized and hand-cutting methods.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A longtime state legislator has lost her long battle with ovarian cancer.

Homer Tibbs said Saturday his wife, Representative Sue Tibbs of Tulsa, died about 9:30 p.m. Friday. She was 77.

Homer Tibbs says his wife of 57 years had surgery in 2008 and underwent chemotherapy treatment but the treatment stopped working. At that point, Homer Tibbs said his wife told him she was through fighting.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma teachers say the elimination of a stipend program for completing a rigorous national certification process could have long-term consequences inside classrooms.

Legislation that would authorize $5,000 annual stipends for teachers who are certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is pending in the House Appropriations and Budget Committee after it was resurrected by a budget subcommittee that defeated it a week earlier.

Tulsa, OK (AP) — An election official says provisional ballots did not change the unofficial outcome in a House of Representatives race where a Democrat won by three votes.

Democrat Dan Arthrell had a three-vote lead over Republican Katie Henke after Tuesday's special election. Tulsa County Election Commission Secretary Patty Bryant tells The Associated Press that four provisional ballots were determined to be from qualified voters.

LUTHER, Okla. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded a small earthquake near Luther in central Oklahoma.

The U.S.G.S. says the 3.3 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 11:20 a.m. Friday about 1 mile southeast of Luther and about 25 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma County sheriff's spokesman Mark Myers says there have been no reports of damage or injury.

Geologists say earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3.0 are generally the smallest felt by humans.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office says a woman who allegedly coerced money from her developmentally disabled patients has been charged with three counts of financial exploitation.

The Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit says an arrest warrant has been issued for 49-year-old Barbara Mangum of Okmulgee. The charges were filed on Thursday in Okmulgee County District Court.

Court records do not list an attorney for Mangum.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The U.S. Department of Transportation says it is ordering an Oklahoma City-based charter bus company to shut down.

A news release said Friday the department is ordering Heartland Charters & Tours to immediately shut down because of what the department calls a "hazard to public safety."

The release said investigators with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that the company did not screen potential drivers for drugs and that it failed to use properly qualified drivers.

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by an Oklahoma woman who claimed she contracted salmonella after eating at Taco Bell has been transferred to federal court.

A judge in Cleveland County approved the transfer last week. Leah Smith sued Taco Bell in February, claiming that she was sick for two weeks after eating at Taco Bell. She's seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

In a court filing, Taco Bell denied it was liable for Smith's illness. The company asked a federal judge to dismiss it from the lawsuit.

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) — The U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Oklahoma says a Mexican national has pleaded guilty to illegally re-entering the United States.

The office says 43-year-old Antonio Martinez-Angiano pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Muskogee. He faces up to 20 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. A formal sentencing date has not been set.

Martinez-Angiano was arrested in February in Tahlequah by the Tulsa Fugitive Operations Team.

The prosecutor's office says he had originally been deported from the U.S. in April 2000.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma National Guard says the final large group of soldiers with the 45th Infantry Brigade is set to return to the state.

The guard said Thursday that about 150 soldiers will arrive at Will Rogers Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma City about 10 a.m. Saturday. Their return comes after 208 soldiers arrived at the base Thursday morning.

The soldiers are among about 2,200 from the 45th that were deployed to Afghanistan and another 800 to Kuwait last June.