Candidates File to Run For Oklahoma City Council
Voters will decide two Oklahoma City Council seats in February based on this week's candidate filing deadline.
Two other council members will keep their seats, and the others are still in the middle of their term.
Bradley Carter of Ward 1 and Todd Stone of Ward 4 will keep their OKC City Council seats. Nobody challenged the pair.
In southwest OKC’s Ward 3, incumbent Barbara Peck will face off against Katrina Bedell Avers.
The only vacant seat is Ward 7 in northeast OKC, which council member Nikki Nice recently vacated after being elected to the Oklahoma State Senate.
Four people are vying to replace the councilwoman who held the slot for six years.
The non-partisan council elections will be in February. If no candidate wins over half the votes in Ward 7, there will be an April runoff.
The other five city council seats, including the mayor’s, aren’t up for election until 2026.
State Superintendent Pushing For Putting District Superintendents Up For Election
State Superintendent Ryan Walters is proposing a policy to leave the jobs of school district superintendents in the hands of voters instead of local school boards.
The announcement came in a news release Wednesday, but there’s no actual legislation yet.
Walters says the proposal is in response to what he calls “rogue” administrators.
Across the state, superintendents have defied several mandates the attorney general says Walters has no legal authority to make, such as requiring Bibles in classrooms and showing a video of Walters praying for President-Elect Donald Trump.
The release said the legislation will include primary and general election dates and eligibility requirements.
Bill filing for the spring legislative session began last month, and no superintendent election bill exists yet.
Walters’ office did not immediately answer whether he’d secured a bill author to run the proposal.
Only three states allow districts the option of superintendent elections, and none require it statewide.
Oklahoma’s New Mental Health Center Faces Massive Construction Cost Overrun
A new behavioral health hospital in Oklahoma City is $125 million over budget.
The Department of Mental Health originally expected the Donahue Behavioral Health Center to cost $150 million to build. Now, state officials are asking for more money.
Sen. Chuck Hall told nonprofit news outlet Oklahoma Watch that former agency leaders did not include costs for furniture, fixtures and equipment in the initial project estimates to the Legislature.
Hall said multiple factors, including inflation and decreased revenue from land, also play into higher costs.
Along with the Veteran's Home in Sallisaw, it's at least the second state-funded facility in recent years to ask the legislature for more money to pay for "unforeseen" expenses.
OU Football Likely To Lose Starting Quarterback To Transfer Portal
The starting quarterback for OU’s football team for the majority of the 2024 season is expected to enter the transfer portal.
Jackson Arnold's likely departure creates a few possible scenarios for the Sooners.
Arnold was one of the most sought-after recruits in the country coming into college, and expected to live up to the high expectations of being OU’s QB in the footsteps of Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts and others.
Now, after a disappointing performance this season that saw him benched at one point, Arnold is on the market for another school, according to reporting from ESPN.
Fellow quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. is still a Sooner, but a likely scenario for who will be the next starting quarterback is John Mateer, who’s currently with Washington State.
OU hired that team’s offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, earlier this week.
Mateer is expected to enter the transfer portal.
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