Safety Review Required For Schools
As school shootings become more prevalent and deadlier than ever, Oklahoma lawmakers are requiring schools to evaluate their safety.
Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the new measure into law Wednesday.
Senate Bill 100 was written by Muskogee Republican Senator Dewayne Pemberton, who’s a former teacher.
It requires Oklahoma public schools to undergo a risk and vulnerability assessment, which would be conducted by the Oklahoma School Security Institute or another nationally qualified assessor and include recommendations for facility improvements.
Those evaluations have to be completed by July of 2026, and then, every five years after that.
Lawmakers allocated $1.4 million to the state’s education department to hire ten additional staffers to help with the risk assessments.
The measure coincides with another school safety effort that passed this year worth $150 million, and that’s a three-year pilot program that gives districts about $96,000 to spend on school resource officers or security upgrades.
Both the pilot program and vulnerability assessment laws go into effect July 1.
Upcoming Tribal Elections
More tribal elections are coming up and some have already been decided..
Last week the Iowa tribe elected Jacob Keyes as their new chairman. Keyes, who owns Skydance Brewery in Oklahoma City, will fill the vacant seat after he beat challenger Alexandria Harjo by 6 votes in the election.
Meanwhile, the Kickapoo Tribe will hold their elections Saturday for Vice-Chairman of the Business Committee, Secretary of the Business Committee and Chairman Grievance Committee. Polls are open from 9-1pm and voting will take place at the Brown Administration Building in McCloud.
If there’s a runoff, the second round will occur later the same day.
Chickasaw Governor Bill Anoatubby and his Lieutenant Governor Chris Anoatubby will get four more years in office as no one filed to run against them.
The deadline to file was earlier this week.
New FDA Rules For Livestock Medication
Starting June 11, livestock producers will have to get a prescription from a veterinarian to buy antibiotics that they could previously purchase over-the-counter.
Since 2017 the vast majority of animal antibiotics require a veterinarian prescription. But about 4% could still be obtained over-the-counter.
That’s changing. As of June 11, a new FDA rule removes the remaining over-the-counter antibiotics from the market.
Barry Whitworth is a veterinarian and works for Oklahoma State University Extension. He says the FDA is trying to combat antimicrobial resistance in people.
"There is a small association with these antibiotics that are used in animals… we do see resistant bacteria that humans can get," said Whitworth.
The rule states antibiotics for food-producing animals — like cows — should only be used with a veterinarian’s guidance.
OU Sooners Take Lead in Women’s College World Series Championship Finals
The Oklahoma Sooners are one win away from their third-straight national championship in softball.
OU took the first of a best-of-three game series last night with a 5 to 0 victory over the Florida State Seminoles.
Jordy Bahl led the Sooners by pitching a 2-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts, and scoring the first run of the game as a pinch runner.
OU Head Coach Patty Gasso says Bahl is built for games like this.
“She is like a very, very hot pitcher right now. She's throwing the best she has all season, right now. So, you want to take advantage of that without running her too hard, you know, where she's going to run out of gas. But she is just feeling it right now,” Gasso said.
The Sooners look to close out the championship finals of the Women's College World Series tonight at 6:30. The game is on ESPN.
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