Measure Creating Minimum Standards For County Jails Clears Oklahoma Senate
The Oklahoma Senate passed a bill to set minimum standards for county jails.
Senate Bill 595, the Oklahoma Jail Standards Act, was developed as part of an agreement between the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association and the state Health Department.
The bill requires that detention facilities operated by counties, cities and towns be inspected at least once a year, and mandates staff availability to perform sensitive functions during the inspections.
The Health Department must also review plans for new or remodeled facilities.
The bill allows temporary emergency waivers after disasters if justified.
The measure passed unanimously in the Senate, and now moves to the House.
Federal Government Backs Off Plan to Sell Oklahoma City Federal Building—For Now
Earlier this month, the Trump administration floated closing Oklahoma City’s Federal Building. Now, it appears the federal government has walked back its plan to sell the facility.
The U.S. General Services Administration oversees the federal government’s real estate.
At the beginning of March, the agency announced it was considering selling 443 properties, including the Oklahoma City Federal Building.
The facility opened its doors in 2004, one block north of where the Murrah Building once stood. At the time, it was dedicated as a “symbol of freedom.”
So, it drew a strong response when the GSA listed it for closure.
After less than 24 hours, the entire list was taken down. Now, weeks later, it’s back, but includes only eight properties nationwide. The Oklahoma City Federal Building is not on there, at least for now.
The GSA says it’s taking a more “incremental” approach to its cost-cutting and indicates more facilities could be added to the list in the future.
Congressman Cole Calls for Better Communication from Government Efficiency Department
Oklahoma’s Republican Congressman Tom Cole says the Department of Government Efficiency is doing important work but needs better communication.
After working with the Trump Administration and DOGE, Congressman Cole recently announced three building closures listed on the department's website were no longer in jeopardy including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Radar Operations Center in Norman.
“You have to be pretty aggressive and go find the information yourself. And that's not a huge surprise for something so new," Cole said.
Cole is chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations. He says he needed to speak with DOGE about the lease terminations because he was getting constituent questions.
Although he supports the effort of efficiency and right-sizing the government, he would like it to be smoother and more transparent.
Oklahoma’s State Fossil is Known As An Enormous Carnivorous Dinosaur. Did it ever exist?
For decades, Oklahoma’s official state fossil has represented an enormous carnivorous dinosaur. But new research may disprove the longstanding finding.
A jumbled-up set of dinosaur bones called the Saurophaganax – dug up in Cimarron County in the 1930s – drew skepticism from paleontologists for decades.
So, when Andy Danison started his PhD at OSU in 2021, he wanted to find the truth about what he considered his favorite dinosaur growing up. One peer-reviewed research paper later, Danison found:
“The dinosaur with the name Saurophaganax being a giant carnivore may not have really existed," said Danison.
At least not the way it was originally described. Danison says the bones likely belonged to two species of herbivores and one meat-eater previously unknown: the Allosaurus anax.
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