Payne Co. Sheriff Audit
A Payne County Sheriff’s Office administrative assistant is accused of misappropriating $137,000 for more than a decade.
An investigative audit found the money spent personal expenses.
Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd says taxpayer money was used for expenses like vinyl flooring, car repairs and a farmhouse kitchen sink between 2010 and 2022. by the
Byrd says administrative assistant Linda Farley is responsible for misappropriating $82,000 through use of a sheriff’s office credit card and turning in altered or fabricated payment invoices. The remaining amount was spent on questioned costs.
The Payne County Sheriff’s Office found the errors in 2021 and the county’s board of commissioners requested the audit.
The final report has been given to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the District Attorney’s office
OKC Zoo Defends Its Treatment Of Elephants
The Oklahoma City Zoo is responding to allegations from an animal welfare organization.
In Defense of Animals released annual rankings on the treatment of elephants.
It rated the OKC Zoo as 7th worst in the country over concerns about breeding elephants in captivity.
Elephant curator Rachel Emory says the zoo breeds ethically and cares for them with an eye toward the future.
“Without breeding elephants in human care the stark reality of the situation is kids--our grandchildren and great grandchildren will never see an elephant in the wild, whether it’s in the wild or in human care because the populations are declining rapidly we’re working to have a sustainable human care population here,” Emory said.
Courtney Scott with In Defense of Animals says her group opposes captivity for all elephants.
Scott says the lessons zoo elephants may impart to kids are deceptive.
“So what are they learning? Basically how prisoners adapt to their prison. That's not the same as learning what a wild-- a very intelligent complex socially evolved species really behave in their home countries,” Scott said.
The OKC Zoo is home to a herd of Asian elephants, which are endangered due to habitat loss and other human-caused conflicts.
The zoo estimates it gets about one million visitors a year.
Bill To Place Monitoring Requirements, Financial Obligations On Journalists, Media Outlets
A state lawmaker filed a bill that would place monitoring requirements and financial obligations on journalists and media outlets.
The legislation is called the Common Sense Freedom of Press Control Act.
Senate Bill 1837, authored by Republican Nathan Dahm of Broken Arrow, seeks to “avoid potential abuse of the freedom of the press” by requiring journalists and other media employees to submit to criminal background checks and quarterly drug tests.
It would also require journalists to file for a license from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, obtain $1 million in liability insurance, and attend an eight-hour “propaganda-free” training developed by PragerU.
The license for individual journalists would cost $290 every five years.
Media outlets would also need to pay $250,000 for a license every year.
The Oklahoma legislature will have an opportunity to consider the bill when its session begins next month.
As a note, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution limits restrictions on a free press by the government.
OG&E Recaps Arctic Blast Operations
An Oklahoma utility says it was able to keep the lights on with relative ease during the recent arctic blast.
OG&E says its electric system was performing at near 100% efficiency during the cold spell earlier this week.
The utility says what few outages occurred were resolved rather quickly.
The company attributed the success to grid improvements and more natural gas storage.
OG&E says it is prepared for more potential wintry weather early next week.
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