© 2025 KGOU
News and Music for Oklahoma
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

PM NewsBrief: Oct. 9, 2023

This is the KGOU PM NewsBrief for Monday, October 9, 2023.

School, Municipal Bond Elections Tuesday In 22 Counties

Special elections are set for Tuesday in 22 counties.

Midwest City and Del City voters will consider a $492 million school bond package.

It would fund construction of a new elementary school, an indoor aquatic center and 10 new storm shelters across the Mid-Del school district.

Norman residents will vote on a 10-year, $50 million bond targeting bridge replacements and repairs.

Bartlesville residents will decide a $17 million bond issue that will largely focus on road improvements.

Meanwhile, Comanche County voters in southwestern Oklahoma will choose party nominees for a state Senate seat that was vacated this summer.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

 Stats On Corporal Punishment In Oklahoma Schools

This spring, despite national outrage, lawmakers failed to pass a bill prohibiting corporal punishment on students with disabilities. At a legislative interim study Thursday, lawmakers questioned experts on the impacts of corporal punishment.

Experts talked about corporal punishment’s lack of long-term effectiveness or direction on how the child should appropriately respond, its legal risks, and potential harms, like increased aggression, and withdrawal.

In addition to the experts, lawmakers also heard from the mother of an elementary student with autism who was administered corporal punishment in a rural district. Jessica Gilliam says her son listened in terror while another child ahead of him was paddled.

"The child fell to the ground upon the first strike. He begged and screamed not to be hit again. This went on and on," said Gilliam.

"The former principal told him it would be even harder upon the next strike, the longer it took him to stand up. He was struck twice and urinated on himself. He was struck two more times. My child began to cry when he heard the other child being beaten," she said.

Lawmakers in favor of corporal punishment released a statement afterward, calling the study one-sided and against God’s Biblical instructions on how to raise a child.

Oklahoma Judge Upholds Gender-Affirming Ban On Minors, ACLU To Appeal

Oklahoma’s ban on gender-affirming care will be allowed to go into effect after a Tulsa federal judge ruled the ACLU’s challenge to SB 613 would likely fail.

The new law, banning things like puberty blockers and hormone therapy, was upheld by a Tulsa federal judge, who wrote in his opinion the ban is rationally related to the state's interests.

Judge John F. Heil III also rejected an equal protection claim in the suit, which included five Oklahoma families with trans youth.

The ACLU says the law is discriminatory because it relies on sex to determine who can access medical care. Heil says the use of terms like “sex’ and “gender” in the ban is not intended to discriminate, but to reflect the nature of the procedure.

Gov. Kevin Stitt responded to the news by saying “he was pleased with the court's decision to uphold Oklahoma's common sense law protecting children from dangerous, permanent sex change surgeries.” The ACLU plans to appeal the decision which it says is a “devastating result.”

Cherokee Docuseries Going National

A locally produced docuseries about the Cherokee people will now be available nationwide through public television stations.

Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People premiered in 2015 and tells stories about extraordinary Cherokee citizens living across the world.

First language speakers, steer ropers and basket weavers have all been featured on the regional Emmy Award winning series.

Now, the National Education Telecommunications Association will be amplifying those stories. Osiyo programs will be available to 250 PBS member stations and regionally within Tulsa and on FNX, an all-Native programming network in more than a dozen national markets.

Osiyo is produced through Cherokee Nation Businesses and is produced by Cherokee citizen and Emmy award winning journalist Jennifer Loren.

 _________________

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.

Stay Connected