The I Heart Cookies Wild Adventures: A Smart Zoo Experience was at the Lowe’s parking lot in Durant on Saturday. The event featured realistic and fully animatronic animals, including lions, tigers, elephants, a smoke- breathing king cobra and dinosaurs. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat

Dot Myers-Landeros of First United Bank was named an honors graduate of the Oklahoma Bankers Association Consumer Lending School. From left, First United Bank’s Jimmy Fernandez, Janis Reeser, Myers-Landeros, and First United Bank’s Katie Jordan, who was a 2024 honors graduate of the same school. Photo provided

Dillon Bowen, community loan officer for Durant First United Bank, speaks to students during the Eighth Grade Discovery Day. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat

The quilt for the Friends of the Donald W. Reynolds Library Annual Holiday Craft Show was donated by the LuLu & Hazel Quilt Shop, Durant. The winner of the T-Shirt quilt this year is Elbert and Marion Hill. Friends of the Library member Angie Mullen presented the quilt to Elbert & Marion on December 10, 2025. Photo provided

Durant High School cheerleaders performed during last week’s basketball games. Bottom left is Savannah Wells, bottom right Kinlee Goza, the top person is Blair Burrage and the person in the back is Lauryn Staneart. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat

Oklahoma’s prison population climbed in 2025