The U.S. Department of Commerce says Oklahoma exported $6.3 billion in goods and merchandise last year.

The Commerce Department's International Trade Administration said in a news release Thursday that the exports include $1.7 billion in machinery; $823 million in computer and electronic products; and $798 million in fabricated metal products.

The department said exports from Oklahoma have gone to countries that include Mexico, Canada, Singapore, and Colombia.

-----

With wind energy production in full swing in Oklahoma, legislative leaders are looking to impose some new restrictions on the booming industry.

The Senate Energy Committee approved a bill Thursday by Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman to require planning for when wind farms are decommissioned and minimum distances from places like schools or airports. The bill also requires wind developers to provide certain public notice before the giant turbines can be erected.

The Oklahoma Democratic Party has announced that Sarah Baker has joined its staff as director of communications.

Baker will join interim executive director David Scott and finance coordinator Kimberley Bishop on the party's staff.

Baker opened a marketing and public relations business in 2010 and has served as vice president of communications for Oklahoma PTA. She most recently ran for the Oklahoma House of Representatives in District 43 in Yukon.

The McAlester City Council has voted unanimously to approve new body cameras for the city's police force.

The McAlester News-Capital reports the council approved the purchase of the cameras Tuesday. The McAlester police plan to buy 39 new "compact wearable video systems," as well as a charging/docking station for a total cost of $31,000. One of the cameras will be given to the city's Criminal investigation Division, and the rest will go to patrol officers.

This weekend, the Oscar Jacobson retrospective opens at the Fred Jr. Museum of Art, OU Musical Theater opens La Cage aux Folles and Paul Medina releases his new book Enchanted Circles. These fine Oklahoma artists will inspire and remind you of the generations of multi-talented innovators our great state has, and continues, to produce.

The Oklahoma House has passed a bill that would prohibit abortions in which doctors use clamps, forceps or similar instruments to dismember a fetus in the womb.

House members voted 84-2 on Thursday. The bill, being pushed in several states by a national anti-abortion group, now goes to the Senate.

Republican Rep. Pam Peterson of Tulsa sponsored the bill that would outlaw procedures in which doctors use medical devices to dismember a fetus in the womb to complete an abortion.

Oklahoma voters have at least a year before seeing for and against state questions on the ballot in November 2016. But you might want to get used to hearing this phrase now: right-to-farm. It’s a divisive national issue that’s made its way to the Sooner State, and puts agriculture at odds with environmentalists and animal rights activists.

Oklahoma's House Criminal Justice and Corrections committee narrowly passed a measure Wednesday that would make fines and sentences for cattle theft steeper than they are for aggravated assault.

Oklahoma could join a growing list of states calling for a convention to be held to amend the U.S. Constitution.

The Senate Rules Committee considered a bill on Wednesday calling for a constitutional convention to be held to consider amendments to restrict the federal government's power and impose term limits for members of Congress.

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn visited with House and Senate Republicans on Monday and urged them to pass the bill.