Take a look: Aurora photos from the Muskogee area

Photo credit: Becky Faught near Sequoyah Bay State Park

If you didn't go out to look at the display of Aurora Borealis Thursday night, you missed out on a real treat! I went "aurora chasing" with my kids in the evening and we got to get our first glimpse of the Northern Lights up near Sequoyah Bay State Park.

Social media has been flooded with photos from all over the country. Auroras were sighted as far south as central Mexico and the Caribbean. You can view a large gallery of photos from around the world here at SpaceWeather.com's realtime aurora gallery (lots of pages of pictures there).

I posted on Facebook and Twitter, asking for local residents to submit photos that they took, and here are some of the Muskogee-area shots. A big thanks to all who responded! If you have additional photos you'd like to submit, send me an email at JamisonFaught@MuskogeePolitico.com, or reply on Facebook or on Twitter/X. 

Nothing as permanent as a temporary tax: Wagoner County voting Tuesday on EIGHT tax proposals

Wagoner County residents are preparing to vote on EIGHT sales tax propositions, including three that change "temporary" sales tax campaigns into permanent ones. If all eight questions pass, the sales tax in some Wagoner County communities will exceed 10%.

As I said over on Twitter: "Few things are quite so permanent as a temporary tax."

AG's Organized Crime Task Force seizes 72k pounds of illegal marijuana

Photo courtesy of the Attorney General's office

 Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force seizes 72,000 lbs. of illegal marijuana 

OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 14, 2023) – The Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) last week seized more than 36 tons of illegal marijuana in searches conducted in Wagoner County and Lincoln County. Attorney General Gentner Drummond established the task force earlier this year to combat Oklahoma’s many illegal marijuana operations.

“Our state has been overrun with criminals who are trafficking drugs in our local communities and throughout the country,” Drummond said. “I will not tolerate this serious threat to public safety. I am proud of the work of the Organized Crime Task Force and our law enforcement partners for their efforts to eliminate this blight on our communities.”