OKCPS Closes Shidler Elementary
An Oklahoma City elementary school is shutting down due to structural issues.
The district Board of Education voted Monday to permanently close Shidler Elementary after a structural engineer determined that much of the building is uninhabitable.
Shidler students will attend Adelaide Lee Elementary for the 2023-24 school year.
The district says repairs to Shilder are estimated to cost 2-million dollars and take nine months to complete.
OKCPS officials are reviewing whether to pay for the repairs or find another use for the property.
Medical Examiner: Cookie Cottage Owner Shannon Hanchett Died of Natural Causes, Heart Defect
Months after a local business owner died at the Cleveland County Detention Center late last year, the state’s Chief Medical Examiner has released a report on the cause of her death.
A report released by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner last Friday says 38-year-old Shannon Hanchett, the owner of Norman’s Cookie Cottage, died of natural causes related to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a common form of genetic heart disease.
The report also includes dehydration and psychosis with auditory and visual hallucinations as contributing conditions.
Hanchett was arrested for allegedly making false 911 calls and obstructing an officer. After the bodycam footage of her arrest went viral, several members of the community expressed their concern about Hanchett’s mental state.
She was scheduled for a mental health assessment on the day she died.
Oil-Laced Mud Spills Into Northern Oklahoma Creek
Cleanup is ongoing at a northern Oklahoma creek.
More than 40,000 gallons of mud containing crude oil and drilling waste spilled out of a pit and into the creek last week.
Not all of that is crude oil. The pit holds drilling mud and materials leftover from boring oil wells.
A company called Nemaha Environmental Services stores these materials until they can be used or disposed of.
But when the area received heavy rains last week, the mud pit took on water. The resulting slurry either leaked through or spilled over the pit’s wall and into Nine Mile Creek.
Matt Skinner with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission says it’s rare for heavy rains to cause a spill of this size.
Skinner says the pit is secure, and the spill has been contained along three miles of the creek. The cleanup crew is using pumps and other equipment to remove the oily mud.
They had recovered about 20,000 gallons by Monday afternoon.
Skinner says there’s no way of knowing how long it will take to recover the rest.
OKC Could Host 2028 Olympic Water Games
Planning for the 2028 summer Olympics in L.A. is already underway.
Oklahoma City is reportedly being considered to host the water games.
OKC is the home of the internationally recognized Riversport Rapids, along with the neighboring Olympic and para-Olympic training facility for rowing, kayak, and canoe athletes.
This makes Oklahoma one of two states capable of hosting water games that meet necessary Olympic standards. The other potential site is North Carolina.
Currently, the summer games are set to kick off in Los Angeles, but without an existing whitewater facility, the cost to host these river-based sports could amount to almost $100 million.
In 2019, the International Olympic Committee voted to allow multi-city and multi-country bids in order to mitigate costs, meaning OKC could host some of the competitions.
While no official announcement has been made, in a recent report, the International Canoe Federation specifically mentioned Oklahoma as a likely candidate.
OKC Chef Wins Prestigious James Beard Award
Oklahoma City’s culinary scene just got another major feather in its cap.
Chef Andrew Black of downtown OKC’s Grey Sweater restaurant is getting the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southwest.
This is the second time - and the second year in a row - a James Beard award has been brought back to Oklahoma City.
Last year the American Classic award was given to Florence Jones Kemp who owns Florence’s Restaurant, located east of the Capitol.
OKC’s Jeff Chanchaleune from Ma Der Lao Kitchen, was also a finalist for the award. Black and Chanchaleune competed against three other chefs from Las Vegas and New Mexico.
The annual James Beard Foundation Award recognizes chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. It is one of the most prestigious awards in the culinary and food media industries.
Oklahoma City was also recognized as a top 100 city in the annual rankings by Taste Atlas last month for its culinary scene. It placed Number 87 globally, ahead of places like Boston, Miami and Playa Del Carmen.
_________________
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 AM NewsBrief.