New Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister has named a longtime educator from the Oklahoma City area as the first person to take a leadership position in her administration.

Hofmeister said Thursday that Robyn Miller will oversee policy research and development as well as teacher quality initiatives for the state Department of Education.

Miller comes to the agency from Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond, where she has served as chair of the School of Education since 2007.

An Oklahoma lawmaker has filed legislation that would authorize retail liquor stores to sell refrigerated high-point beer in the state.

Currently, high-point beer can only be sold at room temperature and only in liquor retail stores. Under the measure by Sen. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma City, consumers would still have to purchase high-point beer at liquor stores, but liquor stores would have the option to use refrigeration and sell cold high-point beer.

The Oklahoma Department of Health says influenza has taken the lives of 16 people during the past week.

Health officials reported Thursday that 47 Oklahomans have died due to flu-related illness since the flu season began Sept. 28. Almost 1,200 others have been hospitalized, including 100 during the past week.

A record 61 people died in the state during the previous flu season to break the previous record of 46 deaths recorded in the 2009 season, when the state began tracking the statistic.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has named Natalie Shirley secretary of education and workforce development.

Shirley has been president of Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City since 2011 and is the first female president in the OSU system. Fallin named her to the cabinet secretary's post Thursday and she will begin serving in the position on Monday.

Fallin says one of her top priorities for 2015 is to increase educational attainment in Oklahoma and that Shirley will lead the way for providing the skills people need to get a good job.

An Oklahoma lawmaker has filed a measure to notify the public when inmates escape from state prisons.

The measure by Rep. John Paul Jordan of Yukon will act as an "Amber Alert" or "Silver Alert" system for the public whenever a prisoner escapes into the general population. Jordan says it would notify the public and give them an opportunity to protect themselves.

The relationship between racial identity and national identity is a contentious subject in France.

France’s National Assembly voted in 2013 to remove any references to race from national legislation, and French President François Hollande has asserted his belief that racial distinctions have no place in French society.

University of Oklahoma sociologist Loretta Bass calls this attitude toward racial issues the “Ostrich Policy.”