Former Teacher Sues State Superintendent Ryan Walters
A former Norman Public Schools teacher is suing State Superintendent Ryan Walters for defamation and other allegations.
The lawsuit filed last week stems from Walters publicly targeting the teacher last year when he was Secretary of Education and campaigning for his current seat.
Summer Boismier is alleging defamation, false representation, slander and libel against Walters for open letters he posted to his social media - letters Boismier claims caused harassment and numerous threats, to the point she felt she had to leave the state for her safety.
Boismier was teaching English at Norman when she shared a QR code to a program at the Brooklyn Public Library that gives access to banned or frequently challenged books.
Boismier ultimately resigned, and Walters publicly called for her teaching certificate, saying without evidence she provided students access to pornographic material and she’d caused harm and shame to the teaching profession.
Walters also falsely claimed Boismier had been fired - an error he corrected some of in a subsequent letter, but the original post with the error still remains up and the correction is still not entirely true.
In August, the Assistant Attorney General reviewed Boismier’s case, found no evidence to back Walters’ claims and recommended against revoking her license to the state board of education. Boismier is seeking $75,000 in damages.
Edmond Plans To Build New Fire Station
The City of Edmond is relocating a fire station.
Fire station No. 3 on West Danforth Rd. will be relocated to a site about a half-mile away.
City officials have agreed to purchase land at the southwest corner of Danforth Rd and Kelly Ave. for nearly $1.3 million.
The city says the 40-year-old fire station has been plagued with maintenance issues.
The new station will have pull-through bays and more space.
It’s estimated to take at least three years to finalize the plans for the new fire station.
Oklahoma Receives USDA Funding For Renewable Energy Projects
More than three dozen rural businesses will get federal funding to start renewable energy projects.
More than $4 million dollars in grants from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program will help 38 rural Oklahoma businesses and agriculture producers to develop renewable energy systems and lower their energy costs.
A distribution center for Milo’s Tea Company in Owasso is the largest recipient with a grant of more than half a million dollars. The business will use the money to install a renewable solar system that will help them save nearly $90,000 a year on energy costs.
Oklahoma is one of 47 states sharing more than $260 million in grants dedicated to funding renewable energy systems across the country.
Indigenous Maternal Health Grant
The OU College of Nursing is taking up maternal health inequities in Indigenous communities.
The school received a $10.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health last week to get the study going.
Indigenous women in Oklahoma and across the U.S. experience the highest death rates and health complications during and after pregnancy.
Data from the CDC shows that over 90% of these pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Because of a seven-year grant, the OU College of Nursing will get to study what is causing this increase in death and disease.
The college will work closely with the Southern Plains Tribal Health Board — representing 43 tribal nations in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas — to research and develop interventions like addressing food insecurity for expecting mothers.
The grant’s work will result in the creation of the Center for Indigenous Resilience, Culture, and Maternal Health Equity, or CIRCLE, which represents how Indigenous communities honor the interdependence and interconnectedness of all living things. This center will serve mothers in Oklahoma and the Southern Plains.
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