Ahh, finally. Fall weather. Sure took long enough, right?

First, a quick look at highs in OKC for this week: 68, 62, 56, 59, 63, 62, 66. Tulsa is roughly the same give or take a degree.

What if I told you that this week is about the time we normally hit our autumnal stride?

You don’t believe me, right? Heck, I didn’t believe it either until I checked. Using a site called extremeweatherwatch.com to check on historical temperature records (from NOAA) for OKC, I looked at today in 1946, 1955, 1968, 1977, 1982, 1999, 2004, and 2016. Picked those years randomly.

Again, today’s high is supposed to be 68, and the full week is in the 60s and 50s.

1946: 76
1955: 78
1968: 67
1977: 83
1982: 77
1999: 82
2004: 73
2016: 82

Anyway, I’m grateful for the cool down and ready for our two weeks of fall before we plunge into winter (laugh).

Grab your hoodie, and make it a great week.

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Very slight chance of rain.

🌡️ Monday's high in OKC 68°
🌡️ Monday’s high in Tulsa 67°

By Anna Pope, KOSU
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The Trump Administration mentioned it’s cooking up a plan to import more Argentinian beef to bring prices down. But local and national farm groups say the plan would harm American producers. 

Rancher Nathan Bradford said this year, he’s seen record-high prices for the cattle he raises at G-Line Ranch in Bristow. He and his family also grow hay and process deer, but he said their expenses have climbed over the past few years.

“So for us, it's been just an ongoing struggle but the last couple years we've been looking really promising,” Bradford said.

Recently the Trump Administration mentioned it was looking to import more beef from Argentina. Bradford is not a fan of the idea.

Right now, he and his son are doing long-term planning and thinking about new investments while beef prices are at an all-time high.

“Just in the last month we've got over $10,000 in repairs to some older equipment,” Bradford said. “Hoping that, you know, these high prices will stay here just to try to get through.”

Beef prices are soaring mainly because the nation’s cattle herd is the lowest it’s been since 1951 while consumer demand has remained strong. Cattle numbers are low largely because of drought.

Recently, national and local farm and ranch groups have criticized the idea of importing more beef.

Oklahoma is the second largest cattle-producing state in the nation, according to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry. Scott Blubaugh, president of the Oklahoma Farmers Union and American Farmers and Ranchers, said he is shocked at the move.

“We didn't get here overnight with the smallest cattle herd in nearly a century.” Blubaugh said. “Now, it's been a process that's taken decades of lots of bad things.”

He said a few years ago producers raising cattle were losing money and processors were making the gains. Although there are still challenges like rising input costs and inflation, ranchers are seeing profits for the first time in years.

Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Rodd Moesel said his organization is concerned about bringing in more Argentinian beef because producers are under stress. He said there needs to be good years to offset the bad ones.

“Beef is one of the few areas that's actually profitable and supporting itself,” Moesel said. “And we're very blessed here in Oklahoma that a lot of our even crop farmers have some beef and that's moderating the effect of how bad the crop markets are, if they do have some beef cattle.”

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By Garrett Yalch and Ari Fife, The Frontier
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It was just before 3 a.m. in March when the hum of machinery at the OK Foods poultry plant in Heavener was broken by a haunting scream, according to one worker. 

That night, the sanitation crew included 49-year-old Leovigildo Ramirez Castillo, a father and immigrant from Mexico. While working above a massive auger — a screw-shaped machine that strips meat from chicken bones — Ramirez slipped through a grated floor and fell into the blades, local media reported. A co-worker rushed to shut off the power, according to a police report, but emergency responders declared him dead at the scene.

His death shines a light on the hazardous conditions faced by the thousands of workers, many of them immigrants, who keep eastern Oklahoma’s poultry plants running at breakneck speed — jobs that are often low-wage and high-risk.

The Fort Smith, Ark.-based company OK Foods, now a subsidiary of Mexican poultry giant Industrias Bachoco, employs over 700 workers at the plant in Heavener and many more contract workers. Ramirez was one of those contractors. He worked for Tennessee-based QSI LLC, which staffs the plant’s nighttime sanitation crew.

Current and former employees describe a punishing pace of work and lax safety standards at the poultry plant, especially for contract sanitation workers. 

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Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

A hand-curated list of the best journalism from across the state:

• Oklahoma City Democrat stripped of committee assignments amid probe (Oklahoma Voice)

• OJA director Tim Tardibono resigns amid COJC issues (NonDoc)

• With workers injured at youth facility, COJC in Tecumseh faces ‘crisis’ scenario (NonDoc)

• Mullin and Cortez Mastro file bill to allow marshals to help with MMIP (Oklahoma Watch)

• Oklahoma Board of Education approves $4 billion budget ask for next year (KOSU)

• Families outraged after former OSU official’s son spared prison in sexual assault case (Oklahoma Watch)

• OKC police are withholding reports, alarming transparency advocates (Oklahoma Watch)

• Oklahoma leaders warn of mounting economic fallout from federal shutdown (News 9)

• OSBI investigates death of Elgin teacher, family believes restaurant is responsible (News 9)

• US Rep. Tom Cole says FAA training center will move out of OKC 'over our dead bodies' (The Oklahoman)

• El Reno community supports family of fallen police officer Thomas Duran (KOCO)

• Dozens of Tulsans show up to speak out against plan to burn medical waste (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• Enrollment starts for new OKC high school (The Oklahoman)*

• Homelessness, housing topics for Monday's Community Conversation (Tulsa World)*

• Tulsans try their hand at transitioning back to society after time behind bars (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• Oklahoma Chronicle: Frustrations with issues at state mental health department (KOCO)

• 'Founder of antifa was Woody': Annual Guthrie prize honors musicians critical of Trump (Public Radio Tulsa)

• 'It's very exciting': Revitalization project coming to downtown Muskogee (2 News Oklahoma)

• 'Brings the community together': Tulsa Run kicks off downtown despite rain (2 News Oklahoma)

• ‘Howdy’ mural brings Oklahoma welcome to OKC Convention Center (Oklahoma City Free Press)

The ‘Oklahoma Memo’ mission is simple: Reignite the daily local news habit by connecting Oklahomans and those who love Oklahoma to quality sources of news and vetted information.

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✅ Make you smarter.
✅ Protect Democracy.