Oklahoma City has been selected to be part of an Urban Heat Island study. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has chosen OKC among 17 other cities to take part in this national effort to map extreme heat cities.
The mapping campaign aims to identify places with extreme heat where the city might take action to alleviate the effects of heat on residents. NOAA Chief Scientist Dr. Sarah Kapnick explains these so-called heat islands.
"Roads and buildings gain heat during the day and then radiate the heat into its surrounding air. Some areas of cities can be 15 to 20 degrees warmer than areas with more green spaces," said Kapnick.
The heat mapping initiative will rely on volunteer citizen scientists who will travel through Oklahoma City with special heat sensors mounted on their cars, recording temperature, humidity, time and location. The data will be used to develop strategies to mitigate the harmful effects of heat in these areas.
Other metros selected for heat island mapping include Dallas, Little Rock and Salt Lake City.
Citizens interested in volunteering for the heat mapping campaign in Oklahoma City can find more information at KGOU.org.
Murray State College and the Chickasaw Nation will receive a $5 million grant promoting sustainable agriculture practices and education to underserved students under the USDA Climate SMART grant.
Murray State College has partnered with the Chickasaw Nation on the grant, providing start-up funding for the Small Farm and Ranch Institute, to be located at Murray State’s Ardmore campus.
The program provides education of small scale farming to underserved students and local farmers. Murray State will build a curriculum to educate students on the importance of agriculture and sustainable farming practices in specialty crops, such as pecans.
Through this project, the Chickasaw Nation will work to divide verified climate-smart native pecans from non-verified native varieties. Local farmers will also learn how to use climate-smart practices in the hopes of providing underserved families with the opportunity to source their produce locally.
The State Department of Health is recommending screenings for sexually transmitted diseases.
Oklahoma consistently ranks high nationally for STI rates. In 2020, it was in the top five for gonorrhea, syphilis and babies born with syphilis, and the state came in at 11th for chlamydia. The department says all of these infections are easily treatable once they’ve been diagnosed.
The CDC recommends annual STI screenings for adults, and more frequent testing for those with multiple partners — more like every 3 to 6 months.
Oklahoma’s county health departments offer free, confidential STI screenings. You can find locations and contact information for those offices at oklahoma.gov/health.
In the fall of 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed two bills to combat the growing number of Indigenous people who go missing or are murdered. Law enforcement, tribal leaders and the community in Tulsa will meet Tuesday to talk about progress made under one of them.
The Not Invisible Act was authored by then New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland. Part of the Act's responsibility was to create a commission to figure out how to help families of victims when their loved ones go missing.
Members of the commission are meeting today to hear from tribal leaders and those who have been affected by violence.
In 2021, the Government Accountability Office released a report a year after the Not Invisible Act and another federal law known as Savanna's Act were passed. Federal investigators noted that certain benchmarks had not been met including requirements to collect better data when a Native person goes missing and coordinating between different law enforcement agencies. It's unclear what has been done to fully meet those requirements in the two years since.
Love's Travel Stops has announced plans to invest over $1 billion to upgrade 200 of its locations over the next five years.
The company says the improvements will bring older properties up to current brand standards.
The upgrade will include a more modern look with open-concept stores, more restaurant options, updated truck service centers, and dog parks where space allows.
In addition to the remodeling initiative, the company plans to open 25 new locations this year.
_________________
For additional news throughout the day visit our website, KGOU.org and follow us on social media.
We also invite you to subscribe to the KGOU PM NewsBrief.