The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Federal Bureau of Investigation signed an agreement this week to improve law enforcement in Indian Country.
Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke during the 2022 White House tribal nation summit and announced the agreement which promises more interagency cooperation and promised to better investigate crimes that occur in Indian Country-including missing and murdered Indigenous people. The goal is to cut through bureaucracy created by multiple agencies investigating crimes over different jurisdictions.
The agreement is one of many announced during the first in-person summit to occur at the White House in six years. The Biden administration has promised more protections for sacred sites and tribal lands and pledged to support efforts to combat climate change within Indian Country.
Oklahoma broadband officials are encouraging residents to check their internet service.
TheFederal Communications Commission recently released a map showing Oklahoma has 100% internet coverage.
State officials say that isn’t true.
Kirk Martin, Interim Director for the State Broadband Office, says the FCC’s map lists internet service availability in places where there simply isn’t any internet — primarily in rural areas.
The broadband office is urging Oklahomans to visit the FCC’s map, look up their address and check to see if the information the FCC lists is accurate.
Martin explains it’s important for the FCC to have accurate information because the final version of the map will determine how much grant money Oklahoma gets for broadband infrastructure.
The FCC’s deadline for residents to provide accurate information is Jan. 13, 2023.
Communities that struggle with food security in and around Tulsa will soon see more fruits and veggies.
Last month the United States Department of Agriculture announced nonprofit Hunger Free Oklahoma will receive a record-breaking $14.2 million to expand a program called Double Up Oklahoma.
It works by matching dollars from SNAP, a federal nutrition assistance plan. After SNAP recipients buy groceries, they get up to $20 per day in the form of a voucher or credit to spend only on produce. Chris Bernard, CEO of Hunger Free, says the money portioned out over four years will help communities as a whole because it brings more healthy food to stores for everyone.
"Instead of ordering produce once a week, they’re ordering it three or four times a week which means fresher produce for that whole community whether they use our program or not and a larger variety because stores can afford to order new products and start to see what people like," said Bernard.
Bernard said seven rural communities currently have the Double Up program, but he hopes with the new money, as many as 40 will be reached.
A bat found in part of Oklahoma is being reclassified as endangered.
Last week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the northern long-eared bat, found in eastern Oklahoma, is going on the endangered species list.
Since 2015, the bat has been listed as threatened. The status upgrade comes as a deadly fungal disease, known as white-nose syndrome, affects hibernating bats across North America.
The disease has been found in multiple caves in Oklahoma, but state wildlife officials say it’s hard to know what the effect has been because the state doesn’t do annual surveys of the bat population.
Extinction of the bat could harm the trees where the bats live as it’s unclear what damage the insects the bats eat might do to certain tree species.
The bat joins three other Oklahoma bat species already listed as endangered--the Indiana bat, gray bat and the Ozark big-eared bat.
In the latest episode of Capitol Insider, KGOU General Manager Dick Pryor and Quorum Call’s Shawn Ashley discuss the big bump in the road for plans to expand turnpikes in central Oklahoma.
They also talk about some of the bills in the coming legislative session, including attempts to change how the Department of Tourism is managed.
"And of course the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the state auditor and inspector and the House Investigative Committee are examining the contract between the departments and Swadley’s Bar-B-Que restaurants," said Ashley.
You'll find more on this in the latestCapitol Insiderepisode and on the show's podcast.
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