Archive for the Week of November 2, 2008 - November 8, 2008
News Archives (Week of November 2, 2008)
Shortage of medical workers seen
11/7/08, 9:33 a.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State health officials say Oklahoma faces a shortage of about 3,000 nurses by 2012. The Oklahoma Healthcare Workforce Center says there will also be shortages of lab techs, physical therapists and other medical professionals.
The prediction has the Oklahoma Hospital Association calling on
lawmakers to find solutions. The association says hospitals have given more than $30 million in the past three years to support scholarships, paid internships, tuition waivers and faculty jobs.
State Senator Susan Paddack says she'll offer legislation to provide funding for more scholarships and to hire more faculty.
Sentencing for McMahans delayed
11/6/08, 1:38 p.m.
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) - The sentencing of former state Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan and his wife Lori on conspiracy and bribery convictions is being delayed. Sentencing was scheduled today in federal court in Muskogee.
U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling says federal Judge James Payne is giving attorneys for the McMahans 10 days to file pleadings supporting whether a reduction in their sentences should be granted. Sperling says the government will have 10 days after the filing to respond. According to federal sentencing guidelines Jeff McMahan should serve eight to 10 years in prison while his wife should receive a six-to-eight-year sentence.
The two were convicted earlier this year on felony counts of conspiracy and accepting bribes in dealings with southeast Oklahoma businessman Steve Phipps. The conspiracy involved more than $100,000 in estimated payments to McMahan between 2002 and 2005 including cash, campaign
contributions, fishing trips, trips to New Orleans and Boston and jewelry.
Coffee designated as top leader
11/06/08, 1:16 p.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State Senate Republicans have selected Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City as the first GOP president pro tem in state history. The Republicans gained control of the Oklahoma Senate for the first time ever in Tuesday's general election.
Sen. Todd Lamb of Edmond was picked at Thursday's caucus to be the majority floor leader. Coffee will be formally installed by the entire 48-member Senate at an organizational meeting in January.
Coffee will succeed Democratic Sen. Mike Morgan of Stillwater, who was term-limited. Republicans seized a 26-22 majority in the election. Before the election, Democrats and Republicans were tied with 24 members each.
Chief justice, vice chief justice elected
11/6/08, 1:12 p.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma Supreme Court justices have chosen Vice Chief Justice James Edmondson of Muskogee as the high court's new chief justice. The court held elections Thursday for chief justice and vice chief justice for 2009 and 2010.
Edmondson replaces current Chief Justice James Winchester of Chickasha. Justice Steven Taylor of McAlester was selected to replace Edmondson as vice chief justice. Their terms begin Jan. 1. The chief justice is the court's chief administrator and administers the judicial branch of state government. He also presides at all Supreme Court sessions.
Edmondson, the brother of Attorney General Drew Edmondson, was appointed to the high court by Gov. Brad Henry in 2003. He previously served as a district judge. Henry appointed Taylor to the Supreme Court in 2004. He is also a former district judge.
Henry to succeed Palin on panel
11/6/08, 1:00 p.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry has been picked to succeed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, as chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
The announcement was made Thursday by the IOGCC and the Oklahoma governor's office. Past chairmen of the 30-state energy organization include former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, unsuccessful primary candidates for president this year.
Henry says energy-producing states are uniquely qualified to help lead development of the nation's energy policy.
Former auditor, wife to be sentenced
11/6/08, 8:28 a.m.
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) - Sentencing is scheduled today for former state Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan and his wife Lori. The two were convicted in federal court in Muskogee of conspiracy and bribery in a political corruption trial. Sentencing guidelines indicate Jeff McMahan faces eight to 10 years in prison while his wife faces a six to eight year sentence. Dozens of letters from friends who are asking for leniency have been sent to the judge in the case.
Enrollment holds steady in Oklahoma colleges
11/5/08, 10:59 a.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Overall enrollment in Oklahoma's public colleges and universities held relatively steady for the fall 2008 semester. The State Regents for Higher Education say total enrollment is 177,385 - down by just 51 from fall 2007.
The University of Oklahoma's main campus at Norman had the largest campus enrollment with 25,680 students. The OU system had 30,132 students. The Oklahoma State University system had 32,032 students while OSU's Stillwater campus enrolled 22,449.
Despite the stable overall enrollment, the number of first-time freshmen in state colleges and universities fell by 1.6 percent.
Record vote unclear in Oklahoma
11/5/08, 10:15 a.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahomans turned out in large numbers Tuesday for the presidential election, but officials won't known until later if a record was set. The record vote in a presidential election was 1,463,758 in 2004.
"We're going to come really close to having about the same number again," said state Election Board Secretary Mike Clingman. Clingman said officials had counted 1,460,271 votes late Tuesday, with about 1,800 ballots believed to be still out. He said a few hundreds provisional ballots also are still to be counted and the final turnout numbers will not be known until Friday.
Republicans take control of state Senate
11/4/08, 11:35 p.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Republicans took control of the Oklahoma Senate for the first time in state history in legislative races today. The GOP also increased its majority in the state House where the party gained control four years ago.
The 48-member Senate has been evenly divided with 24 Republicans and 24 Democrats the past two years. Republicans in the Senate won two seats that were held by Democrats although Republican Jim Reynolds was trailing in his race against Democrat David Boren - who is not related to the University of Oklahoma president.
If Reynolds wins - the GOP will hold a 26-22 majority and it will be 25-23 Republican if Reynolds loses. In the key races Republican Jim Halligan won the seat held by term-limited Democrat Mike Morgan and Democrat Nancy Riley was defeated for re-election by Republican Dan Newberry.
Oklahoma voters approve 4 state questions
11/4/08, 11:15 p.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma voters have approved four amendments to the state constitution including the right to hunt, fish and trap. With results from about half the state's precincts reporting all four questions were leading by double digits. Other amendments approved include allowing winemakers to sell wine directly to liquor stores and restaurants and requires a person or business to file an application to get an exemption from property taxes. The final amendment approved gives household property tax exemptions to veterans and their spouses if the veteran is 100 percent disabled due to a military action or a disease contracted
while in active service.
Troops return home
11/4/08, 11:05 a.m.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - About 300 members of the Oklahoma Air National Guard have returned home from Iraq. Airmen from the Guard's Tulsa-based 138th Fighter Wing were reunited with family and friends yesterday after a relatively brief mission.
The Guard members this time were stationed at the Balad Air Base, about 40 miles north of Baghdad. When the 138th Fighter Wing was last deployed to Iraq in 2007, the pilots helped destroy an al-Qaida training base southwest of Baghdad. For the past seven weeks, the 138th's pilots provided 24-hour armed reconnaissance and armed overwatch for advancing Army troops.
Boy in Panhandle town dies from meningitis
11/4/08, 10:32 a.m.
KEYES, Okla. (AP) - State Health Department officials say a 10-year-old Keyes boy has died from meningitis. Also, a female resident of the tiny Cimarron County town is in an Elkhart, Kan., hospital, being treated for the bacteria that can cause the disease. Lauri Smithee, the chief of acute diseases for the state Health Department, says the boy died about a week and a half ago and that the woman was taken to the hospital on Oct. 30. Smithee did not reveal their identities.
Keyes, with a population of about 360, is located in Oklahoma's westernmost county. Smithee says nurses from the health department in adjacent Texas County have been trying to determine whether the boy and woman had had contact and who else might have been in contact with either of them.
Oklahoma voters to choose president, senator
11/4/08, 8:15 a.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Political polls and history lean in favor of the Republican Party in today's presidential election in Oklahoma. The latest surveys give GOP standard bearer John McCain about a
2-1 lead over Democrat Barack Obama in Oklahoma, which hasn't voted Democratic in a presidential race since 1964, but has more Democrats than Republicans as registered voters.
The winning campaign will be historic, either yielding the first black U.S. president or the first female vice president.
As for Congress, incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe has a strong lead in the polls over his Democratic challenger, state Sen. Andrew Rice. The five U.S. House members from Oklahoma, four of which are Republicans, seem to be safe bets for re-election. The 2004 presidential election brought out a record 1.46 million Oklahomans to the polls.
Early voting resumes in Oklahoma
11/3/08, 10:06 a.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Long lines of voters are stringing around county election boards across the state as early voting resumes for Tuesday's presidential election.
Thousands of voters flooded county election boards across the state when early voting began Friday morning. And the lines were just as long on Saturday.
Oklahoma County Election Board worker Joy Harris says the office was flooded with voters and that there appeared to be a lot more than there were on Friday. A total of 5,154 people cast early ballots in the county on Friday.
High turnout for early voting also continued at the Tulsa County Election Board. Officials say more than 700 people voted in the first two hours of early voting Saturday and lines formed outside the Election Board office for blocks.
Temporary injunction stops law
11/3/08, 8:43 a.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma County judge has granted a temporary injunction to keep a law from taking effect tomorrow that would require women to view an ultrasound before having an abortion. The injunction will remain in effect until March 27th, unless District Judge Vicki Robertson rules on a request to issue a preliminary injunction sooner.
Nova Health Systems filed the challenge to Senate Bill 1878. Another lawsuit has been filed challenging the constitutionality of the law. Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson's office didn't object to the temporary injunction in return for setting deadlines for motions and a hearing on a preliminary injunction.
Edmondson spokesman Charlie Price says the measure not having an emergency clause has made it difficult for state attorneys to argue the law's urgency. Governor Brad Henry vetoed the bill, but legislators overrode Henry's veto. Representative Pam Peterson was House author of the bill. The Tulsa Republican called the injunction a stalling technique.
McMahans to be sentenced next week
11/3/08, 8:35 a.m.
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) - The lawyers for former state Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan and his wife will ask a federal judge to consider the couple's teenage children when sentencing the pair next week. McMahan faces eight to 10 years in prison and Lori McMahan is looking at 6½ to eight years for accepting bribes from a southeastern Oklahoma businessman. They are scheduled to be formally sentenced on Thursday.
Prosecutors alleged that the McMahans took cash, other items of value and straw contributions exceeding legal limits from Steve Phipps during McMahan's campaign for office. According to McMahan's attorney, Rand Eddy, U.S. District Judge James H. Payne could depart from federal sentencing guidelines or object to a pre-sentencing report. Eddy says he'll provide reference letters and focus on how a long prison stay would affect the couple's children. The U.S. Attorney's office had no comment.
Poultry industry launches new legal assault
11/3/08, 8:26 a.m.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The poultry industry is launching a new legal assault on the state of Oklahoma's federal lawsuit alleging the industry has polluted waters in northeastern Oklahoma. In a motion filed in federal district court in Tulsa Friday, the industry alleges the lawsuit should be dismissed because the state ignored the rights of the Cherokee Nation. In a 40-page motion, the poultry industry claims Attorney General Drew Edmondson lacks legal standing because he did not include the Cherokee Nation in the lawsuit. Edmondson called the motion a "legal gimmick."
