North Peoria Church of Christ in Tulsa received a grant from the Biden administration to study the removal of I-244 in the Greenwood District. Reclaimed land could revitalize Black Wall Street.
Don Shaw told the Guardian that he remembers parties, churches, and soul food as the area rebuilt in the 1950s and 60s following the Tulsa Race Massacre. He said the atmosphere changed when Oklahoma highway planners bulldozed homes and businesses to make room for an eight-lane highway through the heart of the district in the 1970s.
A church originally located in Greenwood but displaced by urban development received a $1.6 million grant from the Biden administration’s Reconnecting Communities Program.
North Peoria Church of Christ will use these funds to study the feasibility of removing the section of I-244 that cuts through Greenwood.
Democratic State Senator Regina Goodwin told the Guardian she wants the area zoned for affordable housing and small local businesses. Goodwin and other advocates estimate new economic activity could bring $10 million a year to the city, county and state through property and sales taxes.
Oklahoma’s only historically Black university will receive funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support its agricultural sciences programs.
Langston University received nearly $1.5 million in grants from the USDA to help strengthen education and research at its School of Agriculture and its Extension office.
The school received three grants in total. They will go toward professional development for teaching in food and agriculture science, bolster student recruitment efforts for the college and study the environmental impact of ruminant animals – like goats.
Langston University is among one of the country’s 19 HBCU’s to have received over 33 million-dollars in grants dedicated to strengthening their agricultural sciences programs.
The investment will fund 82 projects across the country, including Langston’s.
The race for the Republican presidential nomination is on, and Oklahomans are throwing financial support behind former President Donald Trump.
PD: Trump has raised nearly five times as much money in Oklahoma compared to his competitors since January. Trump collected nearly $330,000 while his closet rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, raised just over $67,000. Gov. Kevin Stitt endorsed DeSantis in June.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley raked in less than $50,000, the last Republican candidate to collect over $25,000.
Overall, Oklahomans donated nearly $580,000 to candidates so far in 2023. Oklahoma’s presidential primaries are on Super Tuesday, March 5, 2024.
Incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden has raised a bit over $26,000 from Oklahoma donors.
The U.S. Supreme Court is staying a decision by the US 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in a Tulsa traffic ticket case that centers on tribal sovereignty.
Justice Neil Gorsuch temporarily stayed the appellate court's decision until next week. That means that the City of Tulsa can again enforce municipal law against tribal citizens until the stay is lifted. The Hooper v. City of Tulsa case stems from a traffic ticket given to Choctaw citizen Justin Hooper, who challenged it in the wake of the McGirt decision.
The 10th circuit rules in Hooper's favor earlier this month, saying Tulsa couldn't charge him in municipal court because the incident happened on reservation land and he should have been charged in tribal court.
It's unclear if Gorsuch granted the stay to give both parties more time to file briefs ... or if the nation's highest court will grant Tulsa's request to hear the case.
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