Walters Accuses Media Of Spreading 'Misinformation' Following StateImpact Report
An investigation by StateImpact and Oklahoma Watch exposed mismanagement in the state’s new teacher bonus program. Some teachers were awarded bonuses they didn’t qualify for and now the state is trying to claw that money back.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters sent a letter to the leaders of the Oklahoma House and Senate accusing the media of spreading misinformation about the program and blaming teachers for misrepresenting their experience and qualifications.
Walters doesn’t specifically refute anything about the story and StateImpact stands by its reporting. In the letter, Walters touts the overall success of the program, which is designed to address the ongoing teacher shortage in the state, and says there’s a rigorous and ongoing audit process that includes a claw back mechanism. At least one teacher is now suing the Department of Education over its demand to pay back their bonus.
Cushing Oil Spill Payout
Oil companies have agreed to pay millions of dollars and fix environmental damage after spilling nearly 300,000 gallons of crude oil into a Payne County creek.
In July of 2022, a 5-foot-long breach in the Osage Pipeline gushed half an Olympic swimming pool of crude oil into Skull Creek, north of Cushing.
The spill killed fish and wildlife, and leftover oil was still visible in the creek more than a year later.
The involved oil companies will pay $7.4 million in civil penalties for violating the Clean Water Act, per an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency. Holly Energy Partners and Osage Pipeline Company will also need to finish cleaning up the creek with oversight from the Sac and Fox Nation and the EPA.
Inspections identified the section that ruptured as a “potential area of concern” back in 2014. But the feds say the oil companies took no action until after the line burst.
State Records First Pediatric Flu Death
Oklahoma has reported this season's first pediatric death due to the flu.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health announced Tuesday that a child under the age of five had influenza and died in southeast Oklahoma.
The agency says flu activity across the state is high and has continued to increase, especially over the past several weeks.
Since September, Oklahoma has had more than 900 influenza-associated hospitalizations and 16 deaths.
A Look At Criminal Justice Bills Ahead Of Legislative Session
Ahead of this year’s legislative session, lawmakers have filed multiple bills that seek to bring justice to victims and perpetrators of domestic violence.
Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat introduced Senate Bill 1470, titled the Oklahoma Survivor’s Act, which would allow defendants to provide evidence they were victims of domestic abuse within the year they committed a crime. If the court finds the defendant was a victim of abuse during the relevant period and the abuse was a substantial contributing factor to the crime, their sentence could be reduced.
This bill revives proposed legislation from last year’s session which was passed unanimously by the House but ultimately lost momentum in the Senate after language allowing for the sentencing reform to be applied retroactively was removed.
Other bills seek to address strangulation, a red flag of escalating domestic abuse, by increasing the maximum sentence to 10 years and reclassifying the offense as an 85% crime.
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