Oklahoma lawmaker sells her house to Oklahoma Turnpike Authority
A state lawmaker was paid one-hundred-thousand-dollars above the appraised value of her home to sell it to the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
The Oklahoman newspaper reports state representative Sherrie Conley of Newcastle was the first to sell her house to the turnpike authority after she noticed it was within an expansion route.
Appraisers visited Conley’s house a week after the turnpike authority revealed its $5 billion expansion plan last year called Access Oklahoma. Conley is one of only nine landowners that sold their property to the turnpike authority last year.
She was paid more than one-hundred thousand-dollars over the appraised home value, given nearly $26,000 in moving expenses and gets to live in her home rent free for a year.
While OTA records show they have a history of paying more than the appraised home value, critics are skeptical of the agency’s early acquisition of the home of a lawmaker who also sits on the House’s transportation committee.
Osage Designer at NY Fashion Week
Sky Eagle design is making their debut at New York Fashion Week. OPMX's Allison Herrera spoke with the Osage citizen behind the company and has more.
Dante Biss Grayson started Sky Eagle in 2019. He studied fine art in Spain and Holland and was originally a painter.. But he put his art career on hold after joining the military and returned to it as a way to cope with PTSD. Eventually, his artistic practice became a way for him to raise awareness about issues affecting Native people. He labels his brand as New Native Fashion
"The patterns are like plainswork ribbon work and its really like modernized and contemporary and for everybody to enjoy-not just Natives," said Biss Grayson.
Biss Grayson has shown in Santa Fe during the annual Indian Market and, he's set to make his debut at New York Fashion week. Models will be wearing his line of dresses, shoes, ribbon skirts, scarves and jewelry.
NYFW is one of the four major fashion weeks globally, followed by Milan, London and Paris.
Oklahoma lawmakers consider value of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public schools and state universities
Education remains a popular topic going into the upcoming legislative session. With five bills focused on limiting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) educational programs.
Oklahoma lawmakers will consider five bills meant to limit diversity initiatives in education. The measures aim to limit political testing, amending parental rights and report spending in higher education programs.
Those bills come amid criticism of DEI work by Oklahoma’s top education official. Late last month, State Superintendent and Secretary of Education Ryan Walters called for a 10-year review of all expenditures related to DEI over the last decade at Oklahoma universities and colleges.
Colleges' review of diversity programs completed earlier this month show they spend less than half-a-percent of their allocated dollars from the state legislature on DEI. Oklahoma lawmakers are considering exceptions to the state’s abortion laws. The exceptions are widely supported nationwide, but not necessarily commonplace.
Oklahoma Senate considers changes to abortion restrictions
A Senate Committee on health advanced two bills late last week that clarify some exemptions in the state’s abortion ban. The policies would create rape and incest exceptions, but would require a police report to be filed.
Critics note that vulnerable people, such as children who are incest victims, don’t have the support they need to file police reports. It would also add some clarity to medical emergencies. The original laws provide few specific examples, and the ambiguity created concerns that health providers could delay life-saving abortions for fear of going to prison.
In the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, 22 states implemented abortion bans. Of those, there were 15 that included no exceptions for rape and incest, including Oklahoma.
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