A coalition of Norman’s economic leaders called “Team Norman” announced plans for a billion-dollar entertainment district on Wednesday.
Plans for a new development at Rock Creek Road and 24th Avenue Northwest include shops, restaurants, and a multi-purpose performance venue designed to host a variety of events from concerts to OU basketball games and gymnastics competitions.
The development will also include a dense and walkable area for single and multi-family housing.
The coalition expects 80% of the $1 billion cost to be covered by private investments with the remaining 20% coming from public sources, though no money is to be taken from city or county general funds.
Team Norman includes the Norman Economic Development Coalition, the Norman Chamber of Commerce, the University of Oklahoma, and the city and county governments.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters is facing his seventh lawsuit. This one comes from a former State Department of Education employee who was terminated after she spoke at her children’s school board meeting.
Former department employee Janessa Bointy filed suit last week against the state department and its head, Superintendent Ryan Walters, alleging she was wrongfully terminated and her First Amendment rights were violated.
Bointy is the parent of four Edmond Public Schools students. At an Edmond school board meeting’s public comment period, she spoke about mental health resources in light of a student’s recent death from suicide. That, according to the state department, constituted a breach of confidentiality and a violation of the agency’s media policy.
"I just felt compelled to speak at the school board meeting just to share some of the current statistics, data, surrounding child and adolescent mental health. I never thought for a minute that I was doing anything that was violating any policies at work, or would put my job in jeopardy" said Bointy.
Asked for a response, a spokesperson for Walters says the office doesn’t comment on personnel matters.
Pottawatomie County is allegedly keeping details on deaths in the county jail from the deceased detainees’ family members and from reporters.
Oklahoma Watch journalist Whitney Bryen reported that the county ignored the families’ requests for information on the deaths and refused to comply with court orders to produce records on the seven people.
"Of those people, only two of them were reported to the state health department, which the jail is supposed to do by law any time somebody dies," Bryen said.
Bryen also said officials cancelled and interview she had with them about the jail deaths, claimed an attorney told them to not do the interview and refused to tell her who their attorney was. One of the seven was Ronald Given, who died in 2019 after he struggled with jailers while he was naked and hallucinating.
Bryen said three of the families of the deceased, including Given’s family, have sued the jail over the lack of information about the deaths.
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