Oklahoma Democrats are disappointed after House Speaker Charles McCall answered their request to investigate State Superintendent Ryan Walters with a resounding, “no.”
Last month, House Democrats called for an investigation for possible impeachment charges against Walters. They claim Walters lied to a legislative education committee about filing federal grants, sent pornographic material to legislative staff, mishandled federal funds, used state funds to create political videos about teachers’ unions and Tulsa Public Schools, and used his official Twitter - now X - to share an altered video from a far-right account that’s led to numerous bomb threats to schools. Walters is also embroiled in his 7th lawsuit since taking office.
McCall said in a press conference Thursday he would not pursue impeachment proceedings unless Walters commits a crime. He also noted, elections have consequences.
House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson responded, saying, “As each day goes by without action from the House of Representatives, the Superintendent is emboldened to continue defunding and dismantling our public education system because he knows he won’t be held accountable.”
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma and the Los Alamos National Laboratory are getting federal funds to better understand what leads to extreme weather events.
The project received over $600,000 dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy to improve predictions for blocking patterns that lead to extreme heat and cold. Blocks develop when high atmospheric pressure fields remain stationary and are made more intense by climate change.
Over the summer, the central U.S. saw these blocking patterns in the form of unrelenting heat.
Jason Furtado is the project lead and associate professor at OU’s School of Meteorology. He says blocks are what cause heat domes and polar vortexes, and they are not easy to predict.
“Our current models that we use to make predictions, they don't do so well in terms of actually forming them and also predicting how long they last. So what we are after is ways to improve that by including information from outside of the local region," said Furtado.
Experiments began Sept. 1 and are expected to conclude in August 2026.
Norman voters next month will decide on a bridge maintenance bond program.
City leaders say the passage of the 50-million dollar proposition would provide essential funding to replace, repair and rehabilitate up to 18 bridges.
If voters approve the measure, a property tax increase would be in place for a minimum of 20 years.
The proposition will go before voters on Oct. 10.
To learn more about the project and property tax increase estimates, visit NormanOK.gov.
Edmond residents and business owners will see their water and sewer bills go up this fall after city council voted to approve a rate hike.
The revenue from this rate hike will fund more than $350 million in improvements to the city’s water infrastructure. Edmond has already started on some of those projects, including new water towers, a new intake tunnel at Lake Arcadia, and a water plant expansion.
Edmond water utility director Kris Neifing says the need for these improvements comes from outdoor water use.
"Outdoor water use is our primary driver for all these huge improvements that we're doing. We have no problem delivering that 8 million gallons a day during the winter. It’s the 22 to 25 million gallon demand during the summer months," said Neifing.
The base charge for Edmond drinking water will jump about 80 cents in November. Then it will increase by about 50 cents every year through 2026. The base charge for sewage will follow a similar scheme.
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