Brent Kisling will replace Deby Snodgrass as the new executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, incoming Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office announced on Thursday. Kisling, currently the executive director of Enid Regional Development Alliance, was named to the post the same day that Tulsa bank executive Sean Kouplen was announced as the next secretary of commerce and workforce development, a cabinet position that will require Senate confirmation. Kisling will oversee the operations of the [...]

Hello! Enid, Oklahoma has set a goal to have $1 billion in total retail sales by 2025. In 2010, we had $650 million. Last year, we had $815 million. This year, we are on track to exceed $850 million. We are on our way! As part of this effort to grow, over the last few months, several of us have been traveling to successful communities around the US to see what they are doing right [...]

Another movie filmed in Enid and Northwest Oklahoma will make its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next year. “To The Stars” was chosen from among 14,250 submissions to the festival and will make its world premiere during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Salt Lake City at Sundance Mountain Resort. Set in 1960s Oklahoma, “To the Stars” centers on the powerful friendship forged between a shy farmer’s daughter and the reckless new [...]

Emerson Middle School is moving closer to the cutting edge in education, thanks to a $40,000 grant school faculty spent nearly two years chasing. The Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust grant was earned in April, and since then Emerson staff has been hard at work selecting the right tech to enrich, and intrigue, students. The new Innovative Learning Studio, once an old computer lab, and before that a band practice room, has been refurbished and re-purposed [...]

VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. — Col. Corey Simmons, commander of the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance Air Force Base, paused Monday to provide updates on the base’s efforts to increase pilot production, and on some recent and planned infrastructure projects. Simmons assumed command at Vance on July 16, relieving Col. Darrell Judy, who has since retired from the Air Force. Who is Corey Simmons? Originally from Louisville, Ky., Simmons attended Bellarmine University and earned a commission [...]

Ground was broken Thursday on a new early childhood center at the Northwestern Oklahoma State University-Enid campus. The $2.1 million project is a collaborative effort between Enid Public Schools and Northwestern, which promises to benefit both, NWOSU-Enid Dean Wayne McMillin said. “I’m excited about this. This is going to be a really great partnership from this day forward,” he said. “I imagine even bigger things to come in the future.” The new facility is part [...]