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Through Jan. 3 to April 3, the Ponca City Library is holding their adult winter reading challenge. For the next three months, Ponca City Library is offering the community a chance to win prizes for reading.

United Way of North Central Oklahoma Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site will start setting up appointments Jan. 17. Call the United Way office at 580-765-2476. Appointments will begin Feb. 1. United Way will also have a translation service available.

Dedicated to public education, school board members across the state are committed to providing every opportunity possible to students in their community. January is School Board Recognition Month, providing local schools and communities the chance to honor Oklahoma’s more than 2,700 elected school board members for their dedication and service.

Welcome to 2023. Like millions of others, you may be embarking on a resolution for the New Year, perhaps with a goal of better health, finances or relationships. Good luck -- it won’t be easy. As Maria Konnikova wrote in 2013 in the New Yorker magazine, academic studies confirm that New Year’s resolutions are hard to maintain, with many of us likely to fall short in the months ahead.

Last week I made my list of anticipated movies for this year and include amongst those number the upcoming Japanese film: Shin Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider (Kamen meaning mask or masked) is a popular series in Japan that is an example of “tokusatsu”, a term used to refer to live action special effects shows.

Our state’s economy has outpaced many others around the nation in recent years, setting historic records for gross receipts and General Revenue Fund (GRF) collections. While gross receipts include all revenues remitted to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, our focus is on the GRF collections as these are what are available for appropriation by the Legislature after rebates, refunds, mandatory apportionments, and the various taxes are remitted back to the municipalities. Total GRF collections for the first five months of the current fiscal year were $3.5 billion, nearly $500 million or 17% above FY’22 collections.