Norman City Council Hears Anti-Turnpike Advocates Ahead of Upcoming Resolution Vote
The Norman City Council made time to hear from local anti-turnpike advocates Tuesday night. This follows last week’s postponement of a vote on a resolution with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
In a study session on Tuesday, the Norman City Council heard presentations from Pike Off OTA president Amy Cerato and attorney Rob Norman.
They focused on their concerns about OTA’s previous dealings with other municipalities, the homes to be lost to eminent domain, and potential pollution to Lake Thunderbird.
"If you decide by the end of this that you really want to do a resolution, then I want to make it clear that we should reaffirm the city's opposition to the turnpikes while still preparing for the possibility of a turnpike," said Cerato.
During discussion of how to craft a resolution with the OTA without declaring support, interim city attorney Rick Knighton said a resolution is a statement of the council’s opinion and is not a legally binding contract.
The council is set to vote on the resolution next week on Aug. 27.
Federal Review Finds Oklahoma Department of Education Mismanaged Federal Funds
The federal government says the Oklahoma Department of Education mismanaged federal education funding. The U.S. Department of Education issued a 98-page review detailing the problems it found.
The report found 32 of the 52 measured categories require “urgent attention.” For most of those, the U.S. Department of Education gave OSDE 30 or 60 days from the report release date, July 25, to take corrective action.
In some instances, according to the report, OSDE lacked written procedures and couldn’t locate records related to federal grant funds, including Title I funds for low-income students. And, due to the significant staff turnover at OSDE, there was a loss in institutional knowledge and experience that led to delays in reporting federal performance data.
The report comes as the department faces an investigation by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, and other allegations of financial mismanagement, including withholding funds meant for school safety and asthma inhalers, and a delay in informing districts of federal funding allocations.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Clarifies Protest Period for Minimum Wage Ballot Initiative
The Oklahoma Supreme Court says that State Question 832 will have a 10-day protest period in an opinion released last week. The opinion offers clarity about whether the period should be 10, 20 or 90 days long - a conundrum caused by new laws that conflict with current statute and with each other.
The state supreme court certified the signatures of 157,287 Oklahomans who would like to see the option to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour on an upcoming ballot, and clarified, that the time period allowed to object to the language of State Question 832, its validity or the certification of its associated signatures, is to be 10 days long.
Justice Douglas Combs wrote the opinion, joined by Justice Yvone Kauger.
Combs wrote that the court could have “side-stepped” providing guidance on the issue, but felt clarification was necessary.
And the reasoning was simple: When the proponents filed the ballot initiative with the secretary of state’s office last October, the state law spelled out a 10-day period for any citizen to object at this point in the process.
New Abuse Allegations Emerge at Tulsa County Juvenile Detention Center
New abuse allegations at Tulsa County’s juvenile detention facility are surfacing, and so are questions surrounding claims of progress at the center.
The class-action lawsuit now containing 27 currently or formerly detained youth claims officers facilitated fight clubs, and center staff placed bets on the fights. It also says a youth contracted a bacterial infection in the center that could lead to an amputation.
Since April, two detention officers have been charged with sexual abuse, Homeland Security searched the center, and county commissioners agreed to take control from Juvenile Judge Kevin Gray.
Newly-appointed center director David Parker said Monday that he had not heard about any fight clubs, but said he takes credible allegations seriously, and spoke well of the progress he’s made since his July appointment. Some of these steps include requiring education for the youth and staff.
"The process is in place, and the end will show that we’re doing what we need to do," said Parker.
The county also claims a Department of Human Services guardian remarked they didn’t see any issues with the center, but a DHS spokesperson said the agency made no such comments. County spokesperson Laurie Lee claimed the guardian’s remarks were informal.
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