Later today, the Pawhuska Huskies travel to Pawnee to take on the Mounds Golden Eagles in the first round of the district tournament. With a win, the Huskies will advance to the district championship game Saturday evening against Pawnee. With a loss, Pawhuska's season is over.
After a 10-point home loss to Barnsdall on Monday, coach Jake Christenson is confident his team will be ready to play Friday night.
The Golden Eagles only have five wins on the year, but Christenson says that can be deceiving.
Lastly, Christenson says he hopes a lot of Pawhuska's regular season games prepared his team for this moment.
Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Pawnee.
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The Osage Nation Museum in Pawhuska has a new exhibit that recently came to town, called “Patriot Nations.” Talon Satepauhoodle, Guest Services Representative for the museum, goes over a few of the things the museum has to offer.
Director of the museum, Marla Redcornmiller, says the exhibit will stay up through the end of May at which time more artifacts will be on display to honor Osage veterans.
Satepauhoodle hasn't been working with the museum long and he says he continues to learn something new everyday.
The Osage Nation Museum is the oldest tribal museum in the country. It is located at 719 Grandview Ave. in Pawhuska and for any questions, call 918-287-5555 and ask for the museum.

In light of President’s Day, the Board of Osage County Commissioners won’t meet until Tuesday at the courthouse in Pawhuska. The 10 o’ clock meeting looks to be another busy one for the commissioners.
Kelly Bland, the Executive Director of Tourism for Osage County, will be on hand to give a report on how things are going around the area. The Commissioners will also consider making Bland a full-time county employee.
There will be further discussion regarding the proper way to notify employees when the courthouse will be closed because of inclement weather. The Commissioners will also continue to discuss the possibility of building a new courthouse.
The County Commissioners will look to sign an interlocal agreement with Sperry Public Schools to haul rock to the parking lot and make repairs.  The tourism oversite committee will also be requesting $2,000 for the Barnsdall Chamber of Commerce Big Heart Days Event. 

​Joni Nash, the Pawhuska Chamber of Commerce Director, has given a monthly economic update and things are looking up for the city of Pawhuska. 
 
Nash also heard from Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell, who wants to help with tourism in the city of Pawhuska.  
 
Osage Laundry will be having a ribbon cutting at 4 o' clock this Friday to become a member of the Chamber. The junior livestock show will be the first weekend in March. There will be a cycling group coming to the city in April and the town will be hosting a convention in May.   

Two backup generators have been put out for bid in the city of Pawhuska. This is something that had been on the table for quite some time.
Most of the board members were for the idea, but Steve Holcombe was a bit skeptical.
Once the generators come to Pawhuska, the city will be responsible for setting the generators up.

The Pawhuska City Council met Tuesday evening for a regular scheduled meeting at City Hall and many items were discussed.
The council approved the purchase of a level two commercial charging station for electric vehicles. This will be paid for through a $3.1 million grant. The station will be located somewhere downtown Pawhuska.
After much discussion, the council also decided to begin bidding on two backup generators for the city of Pawhuska. As things stand right now, some council members are concerned if power goes out in the city, it will stay out until power crews can come in to restore it.
The council put forth a motion to begin repairing Lake Pawhuska Dam. That money is not to exceed $60,000. They also agreed to hire MKEC Engineering to begin work on the next phase of the StreetScape Project.
Joni Nash, Executive Director for the Pawhuska Chamber of Commerce, was on hand to tell board members she had been in contact with two new businesses that may be coming to Pawhuska, as well as informing them that she was going to have the opportunity to sit down with Lieutenant Gov. Matt Pinnell.
The City Council decided to appoint Mike Lynn and reappoint Elizabeth Hembree to the Osage County Planning and Zoning Commission. That term will run through 2022. Stuart Tolson will fulfill a term through 2020 on the Pawhuska Planning and Zoning Commission.
The council also decided to renew the lease purchase between the city and American Heritage Bank. Money for new exercise equipment at the fitness center was also approved.
The next regular scheduled city council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12 at 5:30 in the evening at Pawhuska City Hall.
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Matt Hennesy took over as Truancy Officer this time last year. Hennesy was forced to take 38 students to truancy court in the month of March and 14 students failed the second semester due to truancy. Hennesy says since he implemented a new system for the middle and high school, he has seen a significant improvement.
At the end of the first semester, three students failed to show up to school at all and there were a handful of students who missed theirfirst period and seventh period class.
Hennesy says he didn't have to take any students to truancy court this month.

Bond options were a key point of contention at Monday evening's school board meeting in Pawhuska. While board members know the school needs big budget items such as a community storm shelter, they also realize items such as this probably won't pass until enough money is in the budget.
As a result, board members say it will be best to buy some new school buses this year before getting the community storm shelternext year.
Board members were recognized at Monday evening's basketball game for the hard work they do for the school system.

In light of this month’s chamber banquet, the Skiatook Chamber of Commerce will not be holding its monthly luncheon.
 
The Chamber will meet again on March 13 at noon at the First Baptist Church, located at 940 W. Oak Street in Skiatook. Kelly Bland, the Executive Director of Osage County Tourism will be on hand to speak. For any questions, contact SkiatookChamber.com.     

Monday evening's school board meeting in Pawhuska went smoothly and after talking about different bond issues, board members have a clear idea on what they want to do moving forward.


A community storm shelter is something that everyone is in agreement with, but the board members believe it's important to have done thorough research before planning something so important. They also noted they want to have plenty of money before doing the project. Therefore, they plan to get some new school buses this year before attempting to get the storm shelter next year.


Matt Hennesey and Kristy DeLapp gave a presentation regarding truancy at the school. Hennesey has been a truancy officer for a year and Hennesey stated he has seen significant improvements. Last year, there were 14 students who failed due to truancy violations. In this previous semester, only three failed.


The board also added a financial literacy course to the curriculum, along with a senior project, which will be a community service type course allowing seniors to give back to the community. This will begin in the fall of 2019 and beginning next year, students must have 24 credits to graduate.


Superintendent David Cash's contract was also renewed, along with Assistant Superintendent Beverly Moore. The next regular scheduled school board meeting for Pawhuska will start at 5:30 in the evening and it will be March 11 at the Administration Building.

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