Oklahoma Freedom Caucus Backs Bible Mandate in Classrooms
State lawmakers in the newly established Oklahoma Freedom Caucus support State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ mandate to have copies of the Bible in classrooms statewide. Caucus leadership says the Bible is a historical document essential to understanding the nation's start.
Shawnee Republican Sen. Shane Jett chairs Oklahoma’s Freedom Caucus. He says the Bible is meant to be a historical reference in classrooms to underscore what he calls the most influential document in the country’s founding.
“It is impossible to fully comprehend the mind of the framers of the Constitution, and consequently, the Constitutional Republic that they created without understanding what was the underlying foundational document, motivation and inspiration from which they drew," said Jett.
Jett describes his thinking as “constitutional conservatism,” and an essential component to the Freedom Caucus’s positioning on policy.
He says a second component is maintaining a small government. But that, he says, requires the moral self-regulation of individuals in society, which only Christianity can teach in a way the nation’s founders intended.
Caucus members also say the separation of church and state is not mandated by the U.S. Constitution, but by communist ideology.
AG Criticizes State Education Department for Delays in School Inhaler Purchases
Attorney General Genter Drummond issued a letter of counsel Wednesday addressing the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s delay in purchasing emergency inhalers for public schools. State Superintendent Ryan Walters requested the attorney general weigh in.
Legislation from July of 2023 appropriated 250 thousand dollars to the state department to purchase emergency asthma inhalers for public schools. OSDE waited seven months to start the process, causing frustration for legislators.
In August, the department announced that instead of directly acquiring the inhalers at a bulk rate, school districts must purchase the inhalers and request reimbursement.
Drummond says the state department must work with the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to determine the purchasing method for the inhalers, and admonished it for waiting more than a year to ask for guidance and change the method of sourcing multiple times.
He says installing these roadblocks to life-saving medication reflects “a lack of understanding of basic purchasing procedures, at a minimum, and perhaps a disingenuous unwillingness to act."
$1 Billion Norman Entertainment District Advances Amid Opposition
Plans for a $1 billion entertainment district in Norman that would include a new arena for OU Athletics are moving forward. But, those opposed to the project are still working to stop it.
OU President Joseph Harroz Jr., Athletic Director Joe Castiglione and Norman Mayor Larry Heikkila were among those who gathered Wednesday for the unveiling of a sign reading “Future Home of the Rock Creek Entertainment District.”
The Norman City Council narrowly approved the project, establishing a tax increment financing district, in a 5-4 vote last month. Even as the project moves ahead, so does opposition to it and the way it’s funded. There’s an ongoing petition drive to bring the issue to a vote of the public in Norman.
Petitioners have until Oct. 18 to gather more than 6,000 signatures. If successful, an election could come in February of next year.
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes Launch Solar Energy Project with $3.8M DOE Grant
The Wichita and Affiliated Tribes is undertaking a solar energy project with a newly announced U.S. Department of Energy grant.
The project will install rooftop solar panels and panels on top of covered parking to provide power for the Sugar Creek Casino and Sugar Creek Inn and Suites in Hinton, which the tribe owns and operates.
The DOE is providing nearly $3.8 million, and the tribe will match about a quarter of those funds.
Over the panels’ 25-year lifespan, they should save around $9 million in energy costs.
Vanessa Vance is the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes’ treasurer. She says the project will generate enough solar energy to fully power the hotel and provide about one-fifth of the casino’s electricity.
"Right now, we have no green energy. We're hoping that this will lead to other alternative energy initiatives for the rest of our operations," said Vance.
Vance says the project will kick off this week, and installation should finish by next summer.
________________
For additional news throughout the day visit our website, KGOU.org and follow us on social media.
We also invite you to subscribe to the KGOU PM NewsBrief.