Oklahoma Political, Higher Education Icon David Boren Dies
Former Oklahoma governor, U.S. senator, and OU president David Boren died Thursday after an extended illness.
Boren was the most prominent member of one of Oklahoma’s most influential political families.
Born in 1941, Boren spent his childhood in Seminole and in Washington, D.C., where his father was part of Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation.
Boren was elected as Seminole’s State Representative when he was 26, and he held public office nearly continuously for the next five decades. He was Oklahoma’s governor for four years and its U.S. Senator for 16.
He served as the University of Oklahoma’s president from 1994 through 2018. His legacy there includes founding OU’s Honors College, implementing programs to attract National Merit Scholars to Oklahoma and leading OU to officially recognize its first Indigenous People’s Day in 2015.
His wife, Molly Shi Boren, and son, Dan Boren, live in Oklahoma. His daughter, Carrie Headington, lives in Dallas.
Oklahoma House Advances Mental Health Settlement
A consent decree drafted to improve mental health services in Oklahoma county jails is one step closer to being enforced.
In a 91-0 vote, state House lawmakers approved a landmark settlement agreement that would give mental health officials 16 months to reduce treatment wait times for defendants unfit to stand trial.
The agreement would help people who need and are lawfully owed restorative treatment services before their cases can be litigated in court.
It’s a response to a 2023 lawsuit that says long wait times in Oklahoma violate defendants’ rights.
The decree passed by the House has been agreed to and negotiated by case plaintiffs and representatives of Oklahoma’s Governor, Attorney General and Department of Mental Health.
The settlement agreement now heads to the Senate.
‘Abolition of Abortion Act’ Fails In Oklahoma Senate Committee
Elgin Senator Dusty Deevers’ second attempt at legislation that would adjust the state’s definition of homicide to include abortion failed in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 456 would have allowed women to be prosecuted for acts like self-managed abortions, which can be induced through medication accessed through the mail from out of state.
Deevers argued women can currently purchase abortion-inducing drugs and not be prosecuted. He says the bill sought to grant equal protection to “preborn children.”
Members of the judiciary committee questioned how the bill would be enforced.
Republican Vice Chair Todd Gollihare of Kellyville also disagreed with prosecuting women.
“I disagree with you on the path, not the destination. I cannot go with you down this road of executing women,” Gollihare said.
The bill failed with a vote of six to two.
Arctic Blast Shatters Temperature Records In OKC, Tulsa, Lawton
Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Lawton plowed through daily temperature records Wednesday and Thursday.
At 4 degrees Thursday morning, OKC shattered its previous record low of 9 degrees from 1918. It was the city’s second record-breaking day in a row.
Tulsa also broke a 1918 record today, hitting a low of 2 degrees.
Across the state, many of the previous daily temperature records were from that 1918 cold spell or another one in 1929.
More record-breaking temperatures are possible Friday, with forecast highs around freezing and lows ranging from 1 degree along the Kansas border to 21 degrees in Oklahoma’s southeast corner.
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