LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — It appears the decades-long legal battle by the state of Oklahoma against poultry companies in northwest Arkansas over the pollution of the Illinois River watershed with chicken litter is reaching its conclusion.

Tyson and Cargill are the latest companies to agree to a settlement with Oklahoma after initially fighting a December federal court ruling holding them liable for pollution in the Illinois River watershed.

The new settlement, agreed to on Thursday, is a lot easier for Tyson and Cargill to swallow than that December ruling and the uncertainty it created.

That ruling demanded that farmers contracted with defendant poultry companies in northwest Arkansas be closely watched for at least 30 years by a monitoring team led by a special master to assure compliance with strict requirements for chicken waste disposal and land application and assess its impact on waterways.

What’s more, the December ruling would have had poultry companies pay for the team’s work, with initial payments of $10 million into an account and then $5 million more every time the fund fell below $5 million.

Panicking poultry companies, afraid of such a long period of liability and uncapped costs, began refusing to renew contracts with farmers in the region. Some farmers have already found themselves without a contract after being nonrenewed.

The new settlement helps eliminate the uncertainty by asking the companies for one-time payments—Tyson $19 million and Cargill $6.5 million. Some of that money will fund a special master who will ensure compliance with the settlement, but for a time period of seven years rather than at least 30.

For poultry growers in northwest Arkansas, it’s a relief, relatively.

“With the settlement, like I said, we feel a little bit more confident that Tyson would like to stay in northwest Arkansas,” Cheyenne Holliday, a poultry farmer for Tyson in Washington County, told KATV. Holliday says Tyson has told her family that their contract would not be renewed.

But the lawsuit against poultry companies in Arkansas has already done much damage, and the new settlement restricts the land application and sale of chicken litter as fertilizer, an important source of revenue for poultry farmers.

“I think that this is devastating to northwest Arkansas’s poultry industry. Undoubtedly, it’s going to impact the poultry production in northwest Arkansas. Poultry producers not having the ability to sell their litter is going to be hard on them,” Holliday said.

“If our farm was able to get a contract and able to sell our farm for any amount of money, we would probably leave northwest Arkansas. I don’t think that it would be smart business for us to stay in a place where we’re always going to be under the microscope as far as water quality is concerned,” she told KATV.

Holliday and other poultry farmers contracted with defendant companies don’t feel they’ve been treated fairly by the courts—since the lawsuit’s inception two decades ago, they say they’ve taken steps to better protect waterways from chicken litter pollution and say the Illinois River actually meets the original water quality standards demanded by Oklahoma in 2004.

“This settlement does not mean that poultry farmers are guilty of the water quality issue in the Illinois River watershed,” Holliday said.

What’s more, lawmakers say the state of Arkansas has instituted regulatory reforms to ensure it.

“That initiated a series of laws and changes that I was a part of even before I was in the Legislature to try to address this. I mean, the ultimate part is that we have to do things like we have farm plans that we have to go by. These are soil tests, and these give our application rates that we are supposed to abide by,” State Sen. Bryan King, (R) District 28, told KATV. King himself is a poultry farmer.

It’s not over just yet, as the judge in the case still has to approve Tyson and Cargill’s settlement with Oklahoma. And if he doesn’t do that, the December ruling still stands, and it’s back to the negotiating table.

“There is some relief in knowing that there was a settlement and that Tyson was at least willing to settle and not wait for the appeal process to happen, which could have taken several years. But if the judge doesn’t sign off on this settlement, honestly, the settlements don’t mean anything,” Holliday said.

Tyson, Cargill, and the state of Oklahoma have requested a court hearing for March 2, at which time the judge may decide whether or not to approve the settlement.

The Arkansas Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026 results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from Feb. 14 drawing

23-43-58-60-64, Powerball: 24, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash 3 numbers from Feb. 14 drawing

Midday: 6-7-4

Evening: 9-4-4

Check Cash 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash 4 numbers from Feb. 14 drawing

Midday: 0-2-8-9

Evening: 3-1-4-1

Check Cash 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Feb. 14 drawing

14-17-30-43-48, Lucky Ball: 10

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Natural State Jackpot numbers from Feb. 14 drawing

01-05-21-27-32

Check Natural State Jackpot payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning LOTTO numbers from Feb. 14 drawing

05-33-35-37-38-40, Bonus: 15

Check LOTTO payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Arkansas Lottery drawings held?

• Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
• Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
• Cash 3 Midday: 12:59 p.m. CT daily except Sunday.
• Cash 3 Evening: 6:59 p.m. CT daily.
• Cash 4 Midday: 12:59 p.m. CT daily except Sunday.
• Cash 4 Evening: 6:59 p.m. CT daily.
• Lucky For Life: 9:30 p.m. CT daily.
• Natural State Jackpot: 8 p.m. CT daily except Sunday.
• LOTTO: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Razorbacks could be at full strength on Saturday when they host the visiting Auburn Tigers for a nationally televised SEC showdown at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Both DJ Wagner and Karter Knox have missed the previous two games going back to last Saturday’s 88-68 road victory over Mississippi State. Then, Arkansas went on to dominate LSU 91-62 on the road with a shortened rotation and marvelous perfomances from its freshmen duo Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas.

Wagner (ankle) and Knox (knee) were listed as doubtful prior to being out against both opponents last week. Then, veteran big man Malique Ewin took an elbow to his forehead in the second half against LSU and didn’t return.

His injury required stitches in what was a bloodied mess. The foul was initially ruled a common basketball move, but was upgraded to a flagrant one technical.

That led to Thomas shooting the techinical foul free throws as Ewin spent the rest of the game in the locker room. Calipari mentioned in the press conference that he’d have time to recover and is listed as probable in the SEC availability report as of Saturday morning.

Coach John Calipari said Ewin received the stitches, but did not say if he would be available for the Razorbacks’ home game against Auburn on Saturday.

Ewin averages 10 points and five rebounds per game in his first season with the Razorbacks. While Arkansas has ran with a smaller rotation his production went gone down a tad, finishing with six points and eight rebounds against LSU.

“He has till Saturday,” Calipari said. “At least he’s got time. Hopefully he’ll be alright.”

The Razorbacks would like to be at full health going down the stretch in SEC play with Knox averaging eight points and five rebounds on the season. Wagner has seen a severe drop off in production as a junior, averaging just over seven points and two assists.

Knox has played primarily starter minutes this season following a breakout freshman campaign in the second half of the season as one of the Razorbacks’ bright young stars who could’ve potentially been a one-and-done. As for Wagner, he came off the bench for two games prior to his injury and should be expected to remain in a secondary ball handler role.

“Hopefully we’re going to be healthy and have a full team, but the reality is, probably got three guys on this team that need to play 37 minutes,” Calipari said. “Which means some other guys will play less minutes.”

Auburn will be without its leading scorer in Bud Walton Saturday as transfer guard Keyshawn Hall, who is listed as out following a home loss to Vanderbilt Tuesday night. Hall missed most of the final 10 minutes of the second half and never returned as the Tigers fell to the Commodores 84-76.

The 6-foot-7, 250 guard is averaging a career-high 20.7 points, seven rebounds, and three assists per game. He’s shooting 45% from the field, 40% from three and 85% at the free throw line.

Hall scored 32 points in his team’s 95-73 home win over Arkansas last month and said that the game meant something extra to him.

“I took this game kind of personal,” Hall said last month. “Obvioulsy, I came [to Auburn], but Arkansas was one of my top four schools. They didn’t recruit me as hard as some of the other guys they wanted. They thought other guys were more worhty of me so everytime I play them it’s going to be personal.”

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