Audit Reveals Up to $100 Million in Questionable Costs in Oklahoma State Agency
A newly released audit found up to $100 million of questionable costs passing through the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services or OMES. The findings have Attorny General Gentner Drummond investigating a state official and calling for her resignation.
State Auditor Cindy Byrd’s new report says Oklahoma is becoming a “no-bid state,” thanks to mismanagement at OMES that started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Byrd finds the agency created a new set of rules for vendor contracts that bypass the competitive bidding process. Other issues include exorbitant management fees for the distribution of rental assistance and a cushy contract for the husband of an agency leader.
That contract was approved by Shelley Zumwalt – then-OMES director and current Department of Tourism head. And it’s the reason Drummond is calling for her resignation.
The AG says this self-dealing represents a “unforgivable breach of trust that disqualifies Ms. Zumwalt from overseeing the expenditure of our tax dollars.”
Zumwalt released a statement to several media outlets saying she does not plan to resign and disputes the audit’s findings.
Oklahoma City Apple Store Workers Awarded Settlement Amidst Ongoing Contract Negotiations
Since forming a union in 2022, workers at the Penn Square Mall Apple store in Oklahoma City say they’ve made little progress in bargaining with the tech giant. But now, they’ve been awarded a settlement over an unfair labor practice charge filed last year.
The National Labor Relations Board approved a settlement agreement for an unfair labor practice charge regarding Apple’s termination of its paid COVID-19 sick leave policy without negotiating with the union. As a result, workers sick with COVID-19 suddenly had to take vacation or sick days or take days off with no pay.
As part of the settlement, Apple has agreed to credit the workers with the time they took off for COVID-19 from when they changed the policy in August until now.
Michael Forsythe, a member of the Penn Square Apple Store Bargaining Committee, says that adds up to over 700 hours across 28 current employees and one former employee.
This comes as workers have been attempting to negotiate a contract with Apple for over a year, but they say the company has not agreed to meet with them for more than two days a month and has not responded promptly to their proposals.
Oklahoma Moves to Eradicate Discriminatory Covenants from Property Records
Cities in Oklahoma will soon be able to remove illegal discriminatory covenants within their charters.
These covenants were placed in property records to prevent people who were not white from buying or occupying land across the state. Although the agreements were largely used to bar Black people, they frequently targeted other ethnic and racial groups, too.
They have been unenforceable and illegal for decades but the racist and discriminatory language remains on the books across the country.
The measure streamlines the process for municipalities to update and remove the language from covenants on plats. Republican Rep. John Pfeiffer of Orlando co-authored the legislation.
"No county records are destroyed or anything like that. It’s just a way to update some, again, very outdated - lot of cases, very racist language that isn't enforceable anyways.
The new law requires the city or town to notify property owners in advance of the changes.
OKC Thunder Eye Improvement in Game Two After Narrow Victory in Playoff Opener
The Oklahoma City Thunder are back in action Wednesday in the second game of their opening Playoff series with the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Thunder won the first game Sunday evening by the close score of 94 to 92.
Coach of the Year finalist Mark Daigneault says the low-scoring nature of the game was a testament to OKC’s defense, but they’re still looking to improve.
“The rebounding is a key. Ya know, they had 24 second-chance points," Daigneault said. "They’re probably going to shoot better on some of those cleaner ones that they’re getting, just based on how we’re playing them. And so, we’ve got to clean up the glass and take some of those points away.”
Game two against the Pelicans tips off at the Paycom Center at 8:30 tonight on TNT.
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