Oklahoma Lawmakers Ramp Up Budget Talks Ahead of Deadline
Lawmakers are in the final stretch of Oklahoma’s 60th regular legislative session, and budget talks are ramping up.
The State Budget. It’s the one issue lawmakers are constitutionally required to mutually approve before the legislative session ends on May 31.
The thing is, lawmakers can’t really approve a budget without first knowing what new and costly proposals will be approved this year, and compared to last session, they’re behind schedule.
Republican leaders say budget talks will pick up pace moving forward and their starting position aligns with the governor's: flat budgets for state agencies and possibly a state income tax cut.
House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson says that’s unrealistic.
"We want to protect core services of government. We don't want to see any massive cuts and understand that a flat budget is a cut," said Munson.
Munson says rising prices, federal funding cuts and serious concerns around how state agencies are spending should mean more money saved to plug any gaps in essential services, not used as political leverage.
Judge Denies Muscogee Nation’s Request to Block Tulsa Police Jurisdiction
A federal judge has declined to grant a Muscogee Nation request to stop Tulsa law enforcement from arresting or issuing citations to tribal nation citizens.
It’s the latest development in the winding Muscogee vs. City of Tulsa case.
In February, the Muscogee Creek Nation filed a motion with a federal judge to grant a temporary restraining order against Tulsa law enforcement.
It was an effort to keep Tulsa police from exercising jurisdiction over Native Americans who committed crimes on Muscogee Nation land, until the lawsuit had been resolved.
But the judge declined to make the move and will allow Tulsa Police to issue citations to Natives in the city.
A Muscogee Nation spokesperson responded in a statement by saying he looks forward to the case continuing.
Attorneys will appear in federal court Monday for a hearing to potentially dismiss the case.
New Measles Cases in Oklahoma
The State Health Department reported two new measles cases Friday.
That brings the state outbreak to 15 people who developed the disease, all but one were unvaccinated.
The agency says a public exposure risk happened at the Walmart Supercenter in Sallisaw on April 18 between 7 and 10 p.m.
2 New Oklahoma Sites on the National Register of Historic Places
There are two new Oklahoma sites on the National Register of Historic Places.
Robert J. LaFortune Tower in Tulsa receives the historic distinction due to its reflection on policy changes in the area for low-income senior housing.
Completed in 1975, it was the last publicly funded and developed building of its kind in Tulsa before the city’s Housing Authority shifted its focus to rent subsidies for future public housing needs.
McIntosh County’s Baccus House is a former railroad office turned family home in the All-Black town of Vernon.
It belonged to W. M. Baccus, a former sheriff, county commissioner and probate administrator in the county. Baccus led the charge for a new school in Vernon in the 1940s, helping raise funds and pass a public vote there.
________________
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.