PRESTON, Okla. (AP) - Authorities say a man was killed in an oilfield accident in eastern Oklahoma. The Okmulgee County Sheriff's Department said Friday that Robert Allen of Cushing died after the oilfield pulling unit he was on collapsed near Preston, about 90 miles east of Oklahoma City. Sheriff's investigator Duston Todd said in a news release that Allen was on a tower of the pulling unit owned by Rick's Well Service when it fell on Thursday. Pulling units are typically used to make repairs to working oil wells.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate left town for the year without acting on dozens of President Donald Trump's nominees, including his picks to head the Health and Human Services Department, NASA and an ambassador's post. The Senate's lack of action returns the nominations to the White House, which will have to re-nominate them in January if Trump wants them installed. Nominees in limbo include Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine at NASA and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback for an ambassador's post.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has signed two bills that provide about $44 million to help shore up the budgets of the state's Medicaid and human services agencies. After the House voted unanimously for the two bills on Friday, Fallin quickly signed them both. One appropriates $17.7 million to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority and the other provides $26.5 million to the Department of Human Services. The funding ensures both agencies can operate through April.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma's unemployment rate dropped slightly in November as the number of people with jobs increased by more than 9,000 and the number of unemployed declined by more than 3,000. The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission on Friday reported the unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in November from 4.4 percent in October. The national unemployment rate was 4.1 percent.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.