Congress is in recess until September 9th, but lawmakers are calling for congressional involvement to any U.S. response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons against civilians last week.

This evening, U.S. House and Senate leaders will get a briefing from the White House. President Obama has said he is certain that the chemical weapon attack was initiated by Syria’s President Bashar Assad.

The former chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party is the latest candidate to announce they are running against first-term Republican State Superintendent Janet Barresi.

Longtime university professor Ivan Holmes officially announced his candidacy at a press conference Thursday at the state Capitol.

The 76-year-old joins a crowded field of Democrats seeking to oust Barresi, who also is facing a primary challenge from fellow Republican Joy Hofmeister, a former state school board member from Tulsa who was appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin.

The worst drought categories are unchanged in Oklahoma this week, although abnormally dry conditions have spread into more areas of the state.

This is part two in StateImpact Oklahoma's "Twister Truths" series where we use data to kick the tires on the conventional wisdom underlying severe weather policy in Oklahoma. Read part one here. 

Despite the risk that comes with living in Tornado Alley, many Oklahomans are reluctant to build tornado shelters. And state and local building codes don’t factor for twisters.

There’s a report out from a group of environmental organizations including Waterkeeper Alliance and the Sierra Club that says there are “essentially no limits” on the amounts toxic metals coal-fired power plants can dump into Oklahoma’s waterways.

Well, we’ve made it to Labor Day Weekend 2013. Take a load off. This week’s OneSix8 features several festival opportunities where you can reward yourself for another year of hard work.