Oklahoma City Posts Lead Pipe Search Results
Water utilities have been hunting for lead in pipes that connect homes and other buildings to water mains across the country. Now, you can learn what they found in your home.
As of this week, water systems are federally required to make the results of their lead service line search publicly available. In Oklahoma City, they’re posted as an interactive map, with little blue check marks for lead-free lines and red exclamation points for lead ones.
OKC’s results are available online, as are those for water supplies that serve more than 50,000 people. But Leigh Ann Kitsmiller with OKC Utilities says smaller communities also have the info.
"It has to be posted somewhere. It has to be accessible to them, and it has to be known. The best thing to do is just to call their water department and see what they have," said Kitsmiller.
Kitsmiller says OKC has more than a quarter-million service connections, and they’ve only found 173 that are made of lead. The city will work on replacing those over the coming years.
Oklahoma AG Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Review Denial of Title X Family Planning Funds
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that says Oklahoma isn’t entitled to federal family planning money it lost last year. Drummond continues to fight against one of the grant’s requirements to provide counseling to pregnant people on all options, including abortion.
Drummond’s latest request comes after the Supreme Court denied Oklahoma’s emergency application that asked it to release the state’s Title X funding. Now, he is asking it to review an appeals court decision from July that brought Oklahoma’s case to the higher court in August.
Drummond argues in the new petition the appeals court ruling conflicts with other circuits. He also argues the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services violated federal law by requiring the Oklahoma State Department of Health to refer patients to a national hotline that also counseled on abortion.
He said the suspension of grant funds risks hurting Oklahomans who need Title X services like cancer screenings, breast exams, depression screenings and pregnancy prevention.
FAA Partners With Two Oklahoma Colleges For Air Traffic Control Training Programs
The Federal Aviation Administration is partnering with two Oklahoma colleges to get more air traffic controllers in the workforce.
The University of Oklahoma and Tulsa Community College are the first schools approved for the FAA’s new Enhanced Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative.
Students will learn the same curriculum and advanced technology offered at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City.
Graduates will skip the previously mandatory Academy and go directly to facility training.
Administrators say the collegiate initiative will increase the controller training pipeline.
The agency has struggled for decades with a shortage of air traffic controllers.
The FAA hired more than 18-hundred controllers this year and plans to continue taking aggressive action to reverse the decline.
ODOT Approves $36 Million for Sidewalks, Trails, Bike Lanes Statewide
More than $36 million worth of new sidewalks, trails and bicycle lanes are coming to communities statewide.
The state Department of Transportation approved 43 projects that are designed to promote connectivity and active transportation, beyond roads and highways.
Some examples of upcoming upgrades include a pedestrian bridge in Chickasha, a sidewalk and new traffic signals in Woodward and a downtown streetscape in El Reno.
OKC Baseball Club to Reveal New Name Later This Month
The wait is almost over for the next chapter of minor league baseball in Oklahoma City.
The OKC Baseball Club is set to announce its new name and unveil uniforms and logos at an event on Saturday Oct. 26.
The festivities take place at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark beginning at 5 p.m.
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