House Lawmaker Wants Superintendent Walters to Explain Statements
Representative Mark McBride wants State Superintendent Ryan Walters to testify before a state House education budget sub-committee.
McBride is a Republican from Moore. He told nonprofit outlet "NonDoc" he wants QUOTE “a friendly question-and-answer” to address Walters’s comments on Oklahoma public schools.
At last week’s State Board of Education meeting, Walters criticized public school libraries for offering books he calls pornographic.
McBride says he’d like to give Walters the opportunity to explain those statements... and other claims.
Oklahoma City Housing Authority Adds Housing Units For People Experiencing Homelessness
The Oklahoma City Housing Authority will add 500 supportive housing units for people experiencing homelessness, thanks to funds from MAPS 4.
MAPS 4 is a debt-free public improvement program funded by a temporary penny sales tax that is projected to raise $1.1 billion over eight years.
The project aims to reduce Oklahoma City’s homeless population with a $55.7 million investment in truly affordable housing. The project’s strategy is to maintain and expand affordable housing, serving vulnerable and low-income people and families.
The Oklahoma City Housing Authority will work closely with partners at the Homeless Alliance, Mental Health Association of Oklahoma and Pivot to reach homeless and low-income families who have a need for housing and other supportive services.
More than 1,300 unsheltered people were counted in the city’s 2022 Point in Time Count. And thousands of people are on an OCHA waiting list for low-income housing.
Infection Closes OKC Animal Shelter
The Oklahoma City Animal shelter has been closed temporarily due to infection.
City officials say the shelter will remain closed for at least a week to identify and contain a contagious upper respiratory infection that has spread to more than 100 dogs in the last three days. Three dogs have died due to the infection.
Samples have been sent to a lab to identify the disease.
OSU Announces New Nursing Program
Oklahoma State University is adding a bachelor’s of nursing program to its Stillwater campus this fall. The addition will help combat the state’s nursing shortage.
Oklahoma has been in a nursing shortage for decades, and the pandemic worsened it. The state ranks 46th for nurses per capita. One of many contributing factors: nursing school barriers. Nursing programs are expensive for students and colleges, and nursing faculty are hard to find, so colleges offer a finite number of slots every year.
But there will be more in Oklahoma this year, thanks in part to the new nursing program at OSU. The program’s 50 new slots have already been filled, and the school aims to offer 100 slots in the coming years.
Last year, the University of Oklahoma expanded its nursing program and created about 100 new slots, including partnership slots in Norman and Duncan.
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