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Oklahoma News Report - Archives |
Oklahoma's Only Statewide Newscast Archive for the Week of March 21, 2009 - March 28, 2009Henry: Road projects will boost economy3/27/09, 5:20 p.m.
The Oklahoma Transportation Commission will begin awarding contracts on almost $250 million in stimulus transportation projects on Monday. The federal dollars will fund about 40 highway improvement projects across the state, including interstate repairs, major bridge improvements and safety initiatives such as cable barriers. Transportation officials placed the stimulus projects on an accelerated construction schedule to take advantage of the spring and summer months when weather-related delays are fewer. State bracing for major storm3/27/09, 12:45 p.m.
Woodward County Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer says several rollover accidents have been reported, including some with injuries. About 300 customers across the Panhandle were without power late Friday morning, but a spokesman for the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives says power to about 1,000 customers in Buffalo had been restored. Transportation officials shut down Interstate 40 in the Texas Panhandle to the Oklahoma state line due to heavy snow. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation also announced the closure of portions of State Highway 285 and U.S. Highway 56 in the Oklahoma Panhandle, and State Highway 171 from Keyes south to the Texas state line. ODOT said travel conditions west of Woodward were"treacherous." Before it's done, forecasters say the early spring storm could leave a half-foot to a foot or more of snow and snow drifts as high as 10 to 20 feet in the Oklahoma Panhandle. State hits 5.5 percent unemployment3/27/09, 12:37 p.m.
Michigan had the highest jobless rate at 12 percent, and Wyoming posted the lowest, at 3.9 percent. In February 2008, the state's unemployment rate was at 3.2 Spring storm prompts emergency declaration from Henry3/27/09, 11:45 a.m.OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Gov. Brad Henry has declared a state of emergency for 50 Oklahoma counties as a powerful winter storm batters the state. The counties stretch across western, central and northern Oklahoma. Audit requested of Butner School District3/27/09, 10:22 a.m.
Late-season storm headed for Oklahoma3/26/09, 4:50 p.m.
Forecasters said the spring storm will move south and east, potentially bringing a couple inches of snow as far south as Oklahoma City and as far east as Tulsa on Saturday. Generally warm ground conditions and temperatures reaching near 40 in some areas Saturday afternoon was expected to limit the bulk of the travel problems to the northwest part of the state. Health officials report drop in smoking rate3/26/09, 4:45 p.m.
25 disinfected wells to be retested3/26/09, 9:12 a.m.
The testing began after Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson suggested that the August outbreak could have been the result of pollution from nearby poultry farms. The industry has denied those claims. The precise origin of the outbreak is unsolved but investigators previously said the Country Cottage restaurant in town was the source of the contamination. Field renderings for new Tulsa stadium given OK3/26/09, 8:57 a.m.
The $60 million stadium will have 6,200 seats and will face southeast, which is unusual for a baseball facility. It will be home to the Tulsa Drillers, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, and is scheduled to be open in time for the 2010 season. The stadium's architect, Steve Boyd, says the design approved by the trust will incorporate more brick than in a previous design and that metal panels made of zinc will cover part of the outside of the stadium. To see ONEOK Field construction updates, click here. Garrett calls state dropouts 'a silent epidemic'3/26/09, 8:38 a.m.
School districts reported that 5,214 students dropped out of high schools in Oklahoma last year. Garrett says work to prevent those dropouts should start as early as sixth grade. The State Superintendent's Student Advisory Council, which consists of 50 students from throughout Oklahoma, partially developed the proposal to create the intervention teams. Garrett says that when educators asked the students for ideas to reduce dropouts, the students said classes should be more hands-on and smaller. She says the students also cited knowledgeable and engaging teachers and parental involvement as important factors. Weitzenhoffer named OU regents chairman3/25/09, 7:06 p.m.
Appointed to the board in 2003 by Gov. Brad Henry, Weitzenhoffer in 1992 presented the university with his family's collection of French Impressionist Art. The university's College of Fine Arts is named for his family. Duke historian John Hope Franklin dies at age 943/25/09, 6:58 p.m.
Born and raised in an all-black community in Oklahoma and often subjected to humiliating incidents of racism, Franklin broke numerous color barriers during his career. He was the first black department chair at a mostly white institution and the first black president of the American Historical Association. Franklin was part of the team of scholars who assisted Thurgood Marshall to win Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case that outlawed the "separate but equal" doctrine in the nation's public schools. Teachers oppose school deregulation bill3/25/09, 10:53 a.m.
The OEA opposes Senate Bill 834, which opponents say could eliminate state mandates like class-size limits, minimum graduation requirements and gifted and talented and alternative education programs. Supporters say it would remove unfunded state mandates that restrict the ability of local school districts to decide how to use resources to benefit students. The measure was approved by the Senate two weeks ago on a party-line vote. It is now pending in the House. Battle between Muscogee chief, opponents is fierce3/25/09, 10:40 a.m.
The petition comes not long after Ellis issued executive orders last month that removed the control of gaming funds from six chartered Indian communities with gaming operations. The communities previously had received a 50 percent cut of local casino profits. Ellis also sued the communities in tribal court in an attempt to limit any interference with the takeover of operations by the the tribe's government. A hearing in Ellis' lawsuit is set for today. Meanwhile, a letter obtained by the Tulsa World indicates that the National Indian Gaming Commission is looking into the possible misuse of gaming funds by some of the tribe's chartered communities. Henry's attorney argues against acceptance of case3/25/09, 9:55 a.m.
The bills specified how funds appropriated to the Department of Corrections and the Ethics Commission were to be spent. Henry's attorney, Kent Meyers of Oklahoma City, told court referee Daniel Karim that there is no controversy regarding the issue and that the court should not rule on hypothetical cases. Lee Slater of Oklahoma City, an attorney representing Coffee and Benge, says the Supreme Court should consider the case because it will continue to be an issue. Idaho to bring back 318 out-of-state inmates3/25/09, 9:14 a.m
By next spring, more than 1,000 new beds will be available in prisons across the state. Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke says that with the overcrowding issues resolved, the state can bring the last 318 prisoners home by August. The inmates are currently at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla. Placing the inmates in Idaho prisons will save the state $7 million a year. House committee clears nuclear power bill3/24/09, 6:06 p.m.
Rep. Scott Martin of Norman, author of the bill, says it is a work in progress and is not yet in its final form. The measure establishes a review process for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to consider nuclear power proposals. It also creates a task force to consider tax changes that would encourage construction of a plant in Oklahoma. The House Energy and Utility Regulation Committee voted 17-4 Tuesday to send the Senate-passed measure to the House floor. A similar measure was previously approved by the House. Mayor honors Wanda Jackson3/24/09, 3:35 p.m.
Jackson was born in 1937 in Maud and has maintained a home in Oklahoma City with her husband and manager Wendell Goodman since they were married in 1961. In 1958, Jackson scored her biggest hit with the rocker, "Let's Have a Party." She is to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4 in Cleveland. Former sheriff gets 79 years3/24/09, 2:45 p.m.
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Gov. Brad Henry says Oklahoma's share of the federal stimulus program will help the state to make immediate improvements to Oklahoma's highways and boost jobs and economic
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A powerful winter storm that pushed into northwest Oklahoma early today has knocked out power for hundreds of residents and forced the closure of several major highways in the Panhandle. Forecasters predicted "unprecedented levels" of snow for late March and travel problems as far south as the Interstate 44 corridor as the storm moved through the state. 
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Oklahoma posted a 5.5 percent unemployment rate in February, up from this time a year ago, but still lower than the U.S. unemployment rate of 8.1 percent. The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, shows that Oklahoma was among 21 states that reported measurably lower unemployment rates compared with the rest of the country. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State education officials are asking for an investigative audit of the Butner School District after learning school records are missing. The state Board of Education agreed during its regular meeting Thursday to seek an investigative audit of the Seminole County school district. State Assistant Superintendent James White says an independent auditor hired by the district could not locate all records
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The National Weather Service has issued a storm warning for the northwest portion of Oklahoma, with more than a foot of snow predicted amid windy, blizzard-like conditions. Snow was expected to begin falling late Thursday or early Friday in the Oklahoma Panhandle and continue through Saturday afternoon. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State health officials say the adult smoking rate in Oklahoma dropped to a historic low in 2008. The Oklahoma Department of Health reported Thursday the adult smoking rate has dropped from 28.7 percent in 2001 to 24.7 percent in 2008. During the same time, the number of former smokers in Oklahoma grew to 24.7 percent, marking the first time the state had as many former smokers as current smokers. Health officials credit the drop to investments in anti-smoking initiatives, a voter-approved tobacco tax increase and a ban on smoking in most Oklahoma workplaces.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Tulsa's stadium trust has approved the field renderings for the city's new downtown ballpark. The design for ONEOK Field, which was created by HOK Sport Venue Event's office in Kansas City, Mo., was given the OK yesterday. It will include brick, zinc and art deco details in the construction process in an attempt to reflect the history of the Greenwood District, in which it will be located. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State Superintendent Sandy Garrett told those attending an education event that Oklahoma's student dropout levels have reached "epidemic" proportions. Garrett, speaking at the state Department of Education's Dropout Summit yesterday, said Oklahoma education leaders want to create
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Theater producer A. Max Weitzenhoffer of Norman has been selected as chairman of the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents. Weitzenhoffer was selected to the post Tuesday during the regents' regular meeting in Tulsa. Elk City Daily News publisher Larry Wade was selected as the board's vice chairman. 
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Duke University professor John Hope Franklin, a revered historian of life in the South and the African-American experience, has died. He was 94. Duke says Franklin died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at the university's hospital in Durham. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Hundreds of teachers are at the state Capitol to voice their opposition to legislation that would allow some public schools to operate as charter schools free of many current state mandates. Teachers met with lawmakers Wednesday as part of the Oklahoma Education Association's annual lobby day at the Capitol. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Attorneys for Gov. Brad Henry and legislative leaders argue today before an Oklahoma Supreme Court referee about whether the court should accept a lawsuit filed regarding the governor's use of the line-item veto. State Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City and
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Idaho's legislative budget-writing committee today approves a plan to cut the state's 2010 prison budget by almost $30 million, in part by bringing home the last Idaho inmates housed in other states, including Oklahoma. Idaho began shipping inmates out of state, most recently starting in 2005, after a federal judge ruled that overcrowded conditions in the state's prison were dehumanizing. Since then, the state has built 628 beds at the Idaho Correctional Center in Boise and bolstered drug court programs and
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Legislation that would streamline the review process for nuclear power plants has been approved by a state House committee. But critics say the measure includes little protection for consumers against rate increases during construction of a multi-billion-dollar nuclear plant. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson got some local recognition in advance of her upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was on hand Tuesday at City Hall when Mick Cornett proclaimed this Wanda Jackson Day in Oklahoma City. 
FAIRVIEW, Okla. (AP) - Former Custer County Sheriff Mike Burgess was sentenced today to 79 years in prison for sexually abusing female inmates and drug court defendants. The 56-year-old Burgess apologized to two of his victims during today's sentencing in Major County District Court in Fairview but maintains he's innocent of allegations he abused others. The case was moved to Major County from Custer County because of pretrial publicity. 
QUAPAW, Okla. (AP) - The Head Start preschool program in Picher has been moved to Quapaw. Gov. Brad Henry and Sen. Jim Inhofe had called for officials to move the program out of the town that has lead contamination due to years of lead and zinc mining. 
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Oklahoma's personal income grew just 0.1 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of 2008, but that was enough to rank it sixth nationally as most of the country continued to see an economic downturn. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee has apologized in a closed-door meeting with his Republican colleagues for being late in paying $28,822 in federal taxes. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - New rules being drawn up by state officials will require amusement ride operators to be tested and licensed before working in Oklahoma. Labor Commissioner Lloyd Fields said legislation passed last year mandates that permanent licensing rules must be in place by June 1. He said the goal is to ensure rides are as safe as possible. Amusement ride companies and organizations say the rules are unnecessary because they already certify ride operators. They also say the new licensing requirement could actually hurt safety because state inspectors are already spread thin checking rides and this would increase their work load.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State Auditor and Inspector Steve Burrage is defending his staff's ability to do performance audits of government agencies. Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee is sponsoring legislation to create a new Office of Accountability, Innovation and Privatization inside the Legislative Service Bureau that would farm out such work to outside auditors. 
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - After years of working as a network war correspondent, an Oklahoman has found a new way to tell the stories of soldiers in combat. Ponca City native Mike Boettcher and his 22-year-old son,| Board Meeting Placeholder | |
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