Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma State Board of Education has identified six state schools as low-performing and director the Department of Education to work with the schools to improve student performance.

The board delayed action on a seventh school — Santa Fe South Middle School in Oklahoma City — that was recommended to be added to the list.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Members of an anti-death penalty group are asking Gov. Mary Fallin to commute the sentence of Oklahoma death row inmate Garry Allen to life in prison.

Members of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty met Monday with Fallin's general counsel, Steve Mullins.

Fallin denied clemency for Allen on March 13 and set his execution date for Thursday. The anti-death penalty group wants Fallin to reconsider that decision.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. natural gas market is bursting at the seams.

So much natural gas is being produced that soon there may be nowhere left to put the country's swelling surplus. After years of explosive growth, natural gas producers are retrenching.

The underground salt caverns and depleted oil fields that store natural gas are rapidly filling up after a balmy winter depressed demand for home heating.

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma Indian tribe could partially open a casino in Broken Arrow by the end of the month -- despite protests from thousands of residents and a pending state lawsuit.

The Kialegee Tribal Town began bulldozing the 20-acre site near the heavily-trafficked Creek Turnpike late last year. In recent weeks, it has trucked in several pre-fabricated buildings to temporarily house the Red Clay Casino.

Opponents of the project say the casino site is too close to schools and churches and will hurt property values and attract crime to the area.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Police in Tulsa have arrested two men in a shooting rampage that killed three people, terrorizing the local African-American community, and said one suspect might have been trying to avenge his father's shooting two years ago by a black man.

Police arrested 19-year-old Jake England and 32-year-old Alvin Watts about 2 a.m. Sunday at a home north of Tulsa. Police said Sunday both suspects are white and all five victims in the early Friday were black.

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — A Fort Smith-based poultry company plans to hire 182 people as part of a $7 million expansion of its processing facilities.

OK Industries officials said Friday the company wants to hire 110 employees in Fort Smith and another 72 in Heavener, Okla. Company spokeswoman Donna Miller says priority in hiring will be given to those who were laid off last year.

Officials say the majority of added jobs will be in deboning plant positions, which use both mechanized and hand-cutting methods.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A longtime state legislator has lost her long battle with ovarian cancer.

Homer Tibbs said Saturday his wife, Representative Sue Tibbs of Tulsa, died about 9:30 p.m. Friday. She was 77.

Homer Tibbs says his wife of 57 years had surgery in 2008 and underwent chemotherapy treatment but the treatment stopped working. At that point, Homer Tibbs said his wife told him she was through fighting.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma teachers say the elimination of a stipend program for completing a rigorous national certification process could have long-term consequences inside classrooms.

Legislation that would authorize $5,000 annual stipends for teachers who are certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is pending in the House Appropriations and Budget Committee after it was resurrected by a budget subcommittee that defeated it a week earlier.

Tulsa, OK (AP) — An election official says provisional ballots did not change the unofficial outcome in a House of Representatives race where a Democrat won by three votes.

Democrat Dan Arthrell had a three-vote lead over Republican Katie Henke after Tuesday's special election. Tulsa County Election Commission Secretary Patty Bryant tells The Associated Press that four provisional ballots were determined to be from qualified voters.

LUTHER, Okla. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded a small earthquake near Luther in central Oklahoma.

The U.S.G.S. says the 3.3 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 11:20 a.m. Friday about 1 mile southeast of Luther and about 25 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma County sheriff's spokesman Mark Myers says there have been no reports of damage or injury.

Geologists say earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3.0 are generally the smallest felt by humans.