Shortly before noon last Wednesday, Aug. 12, Hugo Chief of Police John Mitchell confirmed two men perished early Wednesday morning, when they were working on a railroad car at Trinity RailCar in Hugo. Mitchell said a number of law enforcement, fire and EMT officers converged on the plant (Hugo PD, Hugo Fire Dept., Choctaw County EMS, Choctaw County Sheriff’s Dept., and Oklahoma Highway Patrol) Wednesday morning. “We got there as Trinity employees and Hugo Fire Department officers were removing the two men from one of the cars. It was about half-in and half-out of the building,” Chief Mitchell stated. Both were said to be unresponsive and were transported to Choctaw Memorial Hospital in Hugo and declared deceased.”

The Hugo Lady Buffaloes opened their fall 2020 softball season Monday at Stan Payne Field in Hugo facing off against the perennially tough Lady Jax from Wright City. Lady Buffs Head Coach Randal Copeland said his team displayed the always-feared opening game jitters, mishandling a number of balls that they would routinely handle.

New accounts of patients who believe they’ve been reinfected after recovering from COVID-19 are popping up daily, leading to an unnerving question: Can we get Coronavirus twice? Unlikely, say experts at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, at least in the short term. “It seems more probable that people reexhibiting symptoms are simply still carrying thevirus, not getting reinfected –– that’s a critical distinction,” said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D., a physician and medical researcher.

OKLAHOMA CITY –– The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) announced it is expanding ongoing contact tracing efforts in Oklahoma with the launch of a new COVID-19 contact tracing and case investigation call center.

STILLWATER –– Oklahoma leadership for the agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Oklahoma Tribal Conservation Advisory Council (OTCAC) are hosting a “Nation to Nation” Tribal Consultation ZOOM Meeting on Aug. 18. This is truly a special event with all of Oklahoma’s sovereign tribes having been invited to attend.

OKLAHOMA CITY –– Central Life Sciences presents Paul Bogart Music Live after the Friday night performance of the 36th Annual Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association’s (OCA) Ranch Rodeo. The event will take place Aug. 21 at the Lazy E Arena, near Guthrie, Okla.

Some friends of ours tell this story from the earlier years of their marriage this way: We were living in south Texas temporarily, several hundred miles from our family and dear friends. While Doug worked long hours at a construction job there and had to be gone most of the time, Joan was trapped in a small, dark rented house.

Temperatures in the upper 90s are likely to continue through Sunday. The days will be sunny and hot with a heat index near 104.