Cleveland County Jail Reports Second Inmate Suicide Death In Less Than Two Weeks
An inmate at the Cleveland County Jail has died by suicide.
This is the second suicide death in less than two weeks.
49-year-old Nicole Deann McComb was found in her cell hanging from a blanket tied into a noose last Wednesday.
She was taken to the hospital and put on life support, but was later found brain dead and removed from life support. She died the next day.
Jail officials said McComb did not appear to be in distress during cell checks the day prior to the incident and that she was found hanging just nine minutes following her return to her cell after a phone call with her mother.
She had been in jail for less than a week on drug trafficking charges.
Another inmate, 58-year-old Daniel Edward Freeman, was found unresponsive in his cell and later pronounced dead at the hospital just days before McComb’s death.
Both deaths were reported as suicides, but the State Medical Examiner’s office is still to investigate.
Oklahoma Superintendents Say No To Walters’ Bible Directive
Dozens of Oklahoma superintendents say they will not change their practices for State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ Bible directive.
That mandate says every classroom must have a Bible and schools must incorporate it as an instructional resource.
StateImpact Oklahoma sent a survey to superintendents, and 54 responded.
About 90% say they are not changing their policies to require educators to teach about the Bible.
About 75% say they are not providing physical copies of the Bible to every classroom, and about two thirds say they are concerned about potential retaliation from the state department for noncompliance.
Chuck McCauley is the superintendent at Bartlesville Public Schools. Like the majority of other respondents, he said the main reason for not making changes at his district is because state law says only districts have the authority to make decisions about instructional materials.
"At the end of the day, my job is to do what I think is the right thing to do and follow the law. And to me, the law clearly says what we’re doing is right. So that’s what we’re going to continue to do," McCauley said.
Asked for a response to the survey results, a spokesperson for Walters says districts are required to teach the state academic standards, and Walters “has a wide range of tools to deal with rogue districts who may try to test this fact.”
StateImpact asked, because the standards have not changed, are schools that haven’t changed their practices out of compliance with the standards? The department did not respond.
New State Leaders Announced
Gov. Kevin Stitt is filling top leadership positions at two of the state’s most essential agencies.
Both appointees have a long history of working with the Governor or influential lawmakers.
Jeffrey Cartmell will serve as the executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.
Rick Rose will serve in the same capacity at the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
One agency keeps the state’s people healthy and safe…the other does the same for the state’s money and assets.
Stitt offered high praise for both men’s work ethic and commitment to serving Oklahomans.
Cartmell was the governor’s pick to head the Oklahoma Office Juvenile Affairs last year - after serving as a lawyer for the Oklahoma secretary of state and Stitt’s office.
Rose, who’ll be taking over OMES, previously served as The Speaker of the House’s Chief of Staff and Special Counsel.
Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative Seeks Rate Hike
An electric utility in northeastern Oklahoma is asking to increase how much it charges its customers.
Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative is based in Vinita and serves more than 38,000 customers in the state's northeast corner.
If the Oklahoma Corporation Commission approves the request, electric rates would increase by nearly 5 percent, boosting the cooperative’s annual revenue by about $4.5 million dollars.
The cooperative said the rate hike is “necessary to provide safe and reliable electrical service.” It says its current revenue isn’t enough.
This would be the Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative’s first rate hike since 2010.
For comparison, OG&E, the state’s largest electric utility, applied for six rate reviews in that same time and most recently implemented a 6.6% rate hike in July.
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