Lawmakers To Revisit Corporal Punishment
A bill to prohibit corporal punishment on students with disabilities didn’t make the cut during this spring's legislative session, despite national outrage.
But some lawmakers aren’t done with the issue yet.
A bipartisan interim study was announced Thursday to investigate behavior interventions for students with disabilities.
Speakers include psychology experts, school administration specialists and a parent of a child with disabilities.
The battle over the bill reached the national spotlight in March when it failed to pass the House.
During the bill’s discussion, Sallisaw Republican Representative Jim Olsen invoked Bible verses to make the case for endorsing corporal punishment, saying “God’s word is higher than all the so-called experts.”
After the national outcry, the House reconsidered and overwhelmingly passed the bill - but only after it had been gutted.
What began as a prohibition on corporal punishment for ANY student with a documented disability, ended up as a small rule change that would prohibit parent consent for corporal punishment for only students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
But even with the changes, it wasn’t heard in the Senate and ultimately stalled out.
The interim study is set for October 5.
Water Rates Going Up in Edmond
Edmond residents and business owners will see their water and sewer bills go up this fall after city council voted to approve a rate hike.
The revenue from this rate hike will fund more than $350 million in improvements to the city’s water infrastructure.
Edmond has already started on some of those projects, including new water towers, a new intake tunnel at Lake Arcadia, and a water plant expansion.
Edmond water utility director Kris Neifing says the need for these improvements comes from outdoor water use.
"Outdoor water use is our primary driver for all these huge improvements that we're doing. We have no problem delivering that 8 million gallons a day during the winter. It’s the 22 to 25 million gallon demand during the summer months," said Neifing.
The base charge for Edmond drinking water will jump about 80 cents in November.
Then it will increase by about 50 cents every year through 2026.
The base charge for sewage will follow a similar scheme.
Norman Voters To Decide $50 Million Proposition For Bridges
Norman voters will decide on a bridge maintenance bond program next month.
City leaders say the passage of the $50 million proposition would provide essential funding to replace, repair and rehabilitate up to 18 bridges.
If voters approve the measure, a property tax increase would be in place for a minimum of 20 years.
The proposition will go before voters on Oct. 10.
To learn more about the project and property tax increase estimates, click here.
OU Weather Grant
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma and the Los Alamos National Laboratory are getting federal funds to better understand what leads to extreme weather events.
The U.S. Department of Energy provided more than $600,000 for the project to improve predictions for blocking patterns that lead to extreme heat and cold.
Blocks develop when high atmospheric pressure fields remain stationary and are made more intense by climate change.
Over the summer, the central U.S. saw these blocking patterns in the form of unrelenting heat.
Jason Furtado is the project lead and associate professor at OU’s School of Meteorology.
He says blocks are what cause heat domes and polar vortexes, and they are not easy to predict.
“Our current models that we use to make predictions, they don't do so well in terms of actually forming them and also predicting how long they last. So what we are after is ways to improve that by including information from outside of the local region," said Furtado.
Experiments began Sept. 1 and are expected to conclude in August 2026.
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