A petition to put abortion access on the ballot in Oklahoma was withdrawn on the day it was supposed to start collecting signatures.
The petition for State Question 828 would have asked Oklahoma voters whether to add the right to individual reproductive freedom to the state’s constitution. It was withdrawn on Wednesday.
One of the proponents of the initiative wrote in a Facebook post the withdrawal is a strategic move to reorganize and increase the chances of securing the signatures required to get the question on the ballot.
The organizers would have needed to gather nearly 173,000 signatures within a 90-day period.
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is now 0 for 2 in recent court decisions regarding the $5 billion ACCESS Oklahoma turnpike project. And now the agency is tapping the brakes on the project.
Earlier this month, a district court ruled the OTA had violated the state’s Open Meeting Act because it used vague wording in agendas for meetings that authorized the ACCESS project.
But the OTA argued to the state Supreme Court that it, rather than the district court, should make that call. Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled it didn’t agree and let the district court’s decision stand.
The OTA will have to go back to the drawing board to re-vote on the ACCESS project approvals deemed invalid by the Open Meeting Act violation. Wednesday, the agency sent out a mass email saying it would be halting all contract work on all ACCESS projects until that re-vote.
But while ACCESS has hit a stumbling block for now, the OTA says it will “move in a deliberate and thoughtful manner, in compliance with the Court’s decision, to progress ACCESS Oklahoma.”
Police Departments across Oklahoma reported bogus calls of shootings at nearly a dozen schools around the state yesterday. Officials locked down several schools as the agencies searched the buildings and worked to verify the threats, but no actual threats were found.
Incidents were reported in the following communities: Ardmore, Bartlesville, Durant, Enid, Lawton, Medford, Miami, Perry, Stillwater and Tulsa.
It’s unknown where or why this spate of calls occurred. It's also unclear how or if the various calls are related.
Federal authorities have been investigating similar incidents across the nation. Last month, NPR reported nearly 200 schools in 28 states had been similarly targeted.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt Thursday banned the usage of a popular social media app on government devices.
In a press release from Stitt's office, the governor has banned TikTok for state government agencies, employees and contractors using government networks and/or government-issued devices.
Under the governor's executive order, that includes state-issued cellphones, computers and other digital devices that can access the internet.
The Governor's office says the ban is in response to ongoing national and cybersecurity threats created by TikTok, its owner ByteDance and the sharing of users' information within the Chinese Communist Party.
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