A new vendor has been chosen to run the restaurants at six of Oklahoma’s state parks.
The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department has chosen Oklahoma-based company La Ratatouille as the new restaurant operator for Oklahoma State Parks.
La Ratatouille owns and operates Falcone’s Pizzeria, Jonny Cakes Bakery, multiple food trucks and a catering business that has served the OKC Thunder and the Zoo Amphitheater.
This follows last year’s termination of the contract between the state and the former restaurant operator, Swadley’s Barbeque, over suspected fraudulent activity that is under investigation.
Shelley Zumwalt, the executive director of the tourism department, says integrity and transparency are the department’s main priorities in reopening the state park’s restaurants.
"The state is not subsidizing the restaurant group. The state, as part of the contract, will be receiving 13% of gross receipts each month," Zumwalt said.
Six restaurants in existing facilities at six different state parks will be open by Memorial Day weekend.
Fifty-five Oklahoma United Methodist Churches are trying to leave the denomination, per a list obtained by The Oklahoman newspaper.
The move comes as the denomination banned same-sex marriage and gay clergy.
The newspaper reports the churches are seeking disaffiliation and a regional board recommends that 40 be allowed to do so.
One of the 15 not recommended for disaffiliation: the state's largest St. Luke's in Oklahoma City. More than 1,000 members of the church's congregation voted to leave the United Methodist church last month.
Church leaders say in a letter to the congregation they're still hopeful the disaffiliation will continue as United Methodist leaders do their due diligence in processing paperwork.
Firefighters continued to work hot spots yesterday following a wildfire that blazed across Custer County on Tuesday.
The Weatherford Fire Department reports there are no active fires in the area.
Reports say the blaze consumed nearly 1,500 acres.
Cherokee Nation will break ground on a new 400,000 square foot hospital expanding services for Cherokee and Native citizens today.
The new facility will replace the aging W.W. Hastings hospital in Tahlequah. It will include 127 beds, an ICU, pharmacy and a helipad for emergencies. The price tag: $400 million.
This new hospital will have a connecting bridge between it and the existing Cherokee Nation Outpatient Health Center.
Officials from the Cherokee Nation say the project will take two years to complete.
The president of Oklahoma's only historically Black university will end his tenure after 11 years.
Langston University announced Tuesday its president, Kent J. Smith Jr., will depart at the end of the current spring semester.
Smith said he will retire from his 30-year career in education to follow entrepreneurial pursuits.
The Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents will conduct a national search for a successor.
Community members are protesting against the planned demolition of the Village Green Donor wall.
The brick wall contains personalized bricks in honor of deceased loved ones and is being torn down as part of a $12 million project to renovate the Village library and build a new park with other outdoor amenities.
While city officials claim that the donor wall is obstructing the sidewalk renovation, citizens argue that the wall holds much history and personal connections to the community.
The Village mayor, Sonny Wilkinson, said the city plans to create a new, more permanent memorial wall on the side of the library.
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