Stockyards for sale
The Oklahoma National Stockyards are the largest stocker and feeder cattle market in the world. Now, the stockyards are up for sale.
Livestock became Oklahoma City’s first major industry when the stockyards and meat packing plants opened in 1910. Now, more than a century later, the Oklahoma National Stockyards are on the market for $27,000,000 dollars.
The 102-acre property near downtown includes unincorporated land. Brad Rice is the vice president of investments sales with real estate company Newmark Robinson Park. He says the stockyards have been Oklahoma-owned since its founding and management would like that to continue.
“We are getting tons of interest, and most of our efforts are really talking to people in Oklahoma, which is where we want new ownership to land,” Rice said.
Since its founding, millions of cattle have gone through the stockyards and businesses have sprouted up in nearby Stockyards City. But the market has been rough recently as drought has been hard on the country’s cattle.
Turnpike project
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority will launch its first ACCESS Oklahoma project in January. Construction will begin to widen a three-mile section of the Kilpatrick Turnpike in Oklahoma City from four to six lanes between Eastern Avenue and Interstate 35. Turnpike officials say the initiative will not require the acquisition of additional land. The nearly $15,000,000 dollar project is expected to finish by fall of next year.
Title X amicus briefs
A coalition of states, Congress members, medical organizations and public policy groups have submitted amicus briefs backing Oklahoma’s fight to restore federal family planning money.
In October, Attorney General Gentner Drummond asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court decision from July, saying Oklahoma isn’t entitled to federal family planning money it lost last year. The coalition filed four briefs, fighting against one of the grant’s requirements to provide counseling to pregnant people on all options, including abortion.
Nineteen members of Congress and 21 states filed briefs for Oklahoma, saying the Department of Health and Human Services is threatening the function of states' abortion laws by claiming it has the power to revoke funding if they won’t refer patients for abortions.
The lower court has rejected that requiring Oklahoma to share a hotline providing information about family planning, including abortion, constitutes a referral.
OKC stadium update
The Oklahoma City Council has approved a donation of land for a new multipurpose stadium. The Echo company donated nine acres south of Bricktown.
Officials say the stadium will include a regulation-sized playing surface to accommodate high school, collegiate, and professional soccer competitions. Football, concerts, festivals and other similar events could also take place at the stadium.
Construction on the $71 million dollar project is set to begin next year.
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