Oklahoma
Family-owned Oklahoma City bar named one of the best bars in US
Edna’s bar in Oklahoma City named one of USA TODAY’s best: Video
Take a look inside Edna’s in Oklahoma City, named one of USA TODAYs Bars of the Year 2024.
Edna’s, a longstanding fixture in Oklahoma City’s bar scene, the origin point for a beloved signature cocktail and a local watering hole for both residents and their visiting friends and family is one of 27 bars included on the 2024 USA TODAY Bars of the Year list.
The list was created by USA TODAY Network food writers across the country and includes everything from humble dives to high-end cocktail bars.
“It’s pretty crazy and quite an honor,” said Tammy Lucas, owner of Edna’s and daughter of the bar’s originator and namesake Edna Scott. “My mom just built such a legacy there. That place has a life of its own. It’s bigger than us. She’s just always there with her hands on everything and we’re just blessed.”
What makes Edna’s stand out
Edna’s has been offering up Lunchboxes and love to the community since the day Scott opened the doors 35 years ago. Today, Edna’s is owned by Lucas, who’s own children are also involved in the day-to-day running and management of the bar.
“It’s always going to be a family business,” said manager Kate Kezpers, who is Lucas’ daughter-in-law. “There aren’t as many these days. A lot of things have gone corporate, and I like that it’s still within the family and that it continues that legacy that Edna built.”
Edna’s is perhaps best known for the Lunchbox, created, in fact, by accident when Edna mixed a shot of amaretto with Coors Light and orange juice. The blunder became a menu staple that has grown into a full list of variations available at the bar, including secret off-menu options.
“We’ve now developed many flavors of Lunchboxes. … Try the original first because that’s the one that’s been around for 30 years. That’s the classic one, and then all of the other ones are just based off of that,” Kezpers said. “If you get the right person at the right time, you might just learn a secret one. We have a little Lunchbox bible behind the bar with all of them in it.”
What to know about Edna’s — beyond the Lunchbox
Edna’s also offers up a selection of tasty bar snacks — wings, chicken fingers, loaded fries, fried green beans and more — to satisfy the cravings that often come with a trip to the bar.
The most well-known visual feature at Edna’s is the hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollar bills lining the walls, ceiling and even a few epoxy-resined tables throughout the bar at this point.
There is an unspoken understanding amongst guests that the dollar bills stay on the walls and are not to be disturbed and any guest who comes into the bar can decorate a bill of their own and add it to the wall. There are some less cluttered places in need of decoration in the newly expanded and renovated area of the bar that was added during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That expansion also gave new life to the patio, which gained additional square footage for added seating and games. Patrons can play cornhole or oversized Connect Four on the patio during the bar’s regular hours. But don’t be surprised if seating is limited on nights and weekends when Edna’s gets busy and stays that way.
‘We’re just blessed’
Kezpers said you also shouldn’t be surprised if, on your first visit, a regular offers to buy your first Lunchbox, a common occurrence at Edna’s she’s seen too many times to count.
“I think the Lunchbox is a big part of it, but I also think we have a good community here. I think everyone that comes in is just instantly welcomed by the staff or the other people in the bar,” Kezpers said.
With three and a half decades under its belt, a committed family running it, strong community support and daily hours from noon until 2 a.m. Edna’s does not appear to be going anywhere.
“All I ever wanted to do, and my family, too, is just honor [my mom] and what she’s done and brought to Oklahoma City and how she wants people to be treated,” Lucas said. “You know we’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re hanging in there and we’re just blessed.”
Edna’s in Oklahoma City
Details: 5137 N Classen Circle, Oklahoma City, Ok.; 405-840-3339, ednasokc.com.
Oklahoma
Capture of Nicolas Maduro: What it could mean for Oklahoma
Elite Delta Force captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife about 2 a.m. Saturday morning.
It happened in the Caracas, the capitol of Venezuela.
Social media posts how strikes ordered by President Trump into Venezuela and its military bases.
News 9 political analyst Scott Mitchell said the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America has not always been smooth and adds so many dominos will fall as a result.
“Venezuela is the beachhead for our adversaries that’s Cuba and Russia and China and Iran and it looks as if this latest situation where that they were assembling Iran swift attack boats that was sort of the last straw,” said Mitchell.
Retired war correspondent Mike Boettcher said the planning on capturing Maduro began in mid-December.
He adds Venezuela is a massive oil supplier whose oil has been taken off the market for years because of sanctions.
He has concerns about what comes next.
“That disrupts a lot of things.It even has an effect on the war in Ukraine, as Russia, you know, has used higher oil revenue because Venezuela’s oil was off the market.Oil prices went up.It helps fund the war in Ukraine,” said Boettcher.
The ramifications could even reach Oklahoma.
“China gets a 30 percent discount on the oil.If Venezuela goes for a more legitimate government and the sanctions are lifting, then they’re flooding the oil markets and that means bad news for the Oklahoma economy,” added Mitchell.
Following the capture of Maduro, President Trump said the U.S. will take control of the oil reserves in Venezuela.
Sources also say there are plans from the current administration to recruit American companies to invest billions of dollars in their oil industry.
A verified video shows the current state of Venezuela after the military operation.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State expected to lose talented EDGE to transfer portal
Oklahoma State EDGE Kyran Duhon plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned. Duhon was a member of the 2024 recruiting class.
Duhon spent one year at Oklahoma State, logged 16 total tackles (eight solo) across nine games. He began his career at UTEP, where he had a productive true freshman season, Duhon finished 2024 with 43 total tackles, including seven sacks and two PBUs.
At UTEP, his one season there resulted in second team All-Conference USA honors. He was also named to the On3 True Freshman All-America Team as well as the the Conference USA All-Freshman team.
However, Duhon’s stay in Stillwater didn’t go as expected. Oklahoma State finished the season with a 1-11 record, which included the Cowboys firing longtime head coach Mike Gundy after a 1-2 start. Doug Meacham was named interim head coach but ended the year 0-9.
Eric Morris has since been named as the program’s next head coach. He comes from North Texas, which finished with an 11-2 record and a trip to the American Conference championship game this past season. However, it doesn’t appear that Duhon will be sticking around during the changing of the guard at Oklahoma State this offseason.
Before college, Duhon was the No. 1,706 overall player in the class, and was recruited as the the No. 165 linebacker during the cycle, per the Rivals Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was ranked as the No. 242 overall player out of Texas.
Once the NCAA transfer portal opens on Jan. 2, players can officially enter their names in the NCAA transfer portal and go on to initiate contact with their preferred schools. The portal will be open for 15 days and close on Jan. 16.
Notably, players who are on teams competing in the national championship game are allowed five extra days to make their portal decision. The College Football Playoff championship game will be played on Jan. 19, so the players on those teams will be allowed until Jan. 24 to enter the portal and choose their next school.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma man doing target practice in back yard charged in fatal shooting of neighbor
A man in Oklahoma is facing a manslaughter charge after he allegedly shot a woman several blocks from his home while firing a gun he got himself for Christmas at an energy drink can in his back yard.
As told in court documents reviewed by NBC News, the death of Sandra Phelps at the hands of Cody Wayne Adams illustrates how deadly the consequences can be when those engaging in the US’s prevalent gun culture do so unsafely. Adams’s back yard was not equipped to stop bullets from leaving the property and striking unsuspecting people in the surrounding area, according to authorities.
Phelps was sitting under a covered porch with family on Christmas and holding a child in her arms when they heard gunshots north of the house, said an affidavit laying out the circumstances of Adams’s arrest.
“Sandra commented that someone got a new gun for Christmas and then shortly after Sandra said ‘ouch’ and collapsed,” the affidavit said. It said there were no more gunshots after that.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to Phelps’s address at about 3.15pm Thursday, the Stephens county sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“We later received a call stating an individual had just received a gun for Christmas and was target practicing in his backyard and that they believed it would be pointing in the direction of the scene,” the sheriff’s office statement added.
“Investigators went to the reported address and spoke with an individual [who] confirmed he was shooting a target in his back yard and that he had heard that someone has died from a gunshot wound a couple of roads over.”
That individual was Adams, 33, who showed deputies a Red Bull can in his back yard that he had been shooting with his handgun, according to the affidavit justifying his arrest.
Authorities allegedly concluded that the vantage point from where Adams was shooting aligned with the angle of the bullet that killed Phelps. They also determined the home lacked a suitable shooting backstop meant to protect those in the surrounding area from being struck by stray bullets.
“Adams became visibly upset and began to cry” when he learned of Phelps, the affidavit added. He was arrested on a count of first-degree manslaughter and later released on a $100,000 bond.
In the US, unintentional deaths from firearms are a small percentage of gun deaths in the country. But they occur four times more often in the US than in comparable countries – and most involve a handgun.
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