Efforts to Reduce Homelessness in Tulsa
Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols is focusing his efforts on reducing homelessness in the city.
Nichols says his efforts will focus on increasing shelter access, reducing eviction rates and creating a citywide coordination system.
Part of that effort will include creating an “encampment decommissioning team.”
He said all this work will depend on effective collaboration.
“Historically the city has worked to decommission encampments without a true citywide plan in place. Their efforts came with certainly the best intentions in mind, but they often times missed part of the picture,” he said.
The team will be made up of existing city staff, service organizations and tribal partners.
During his campaign, Nichols promised to achieve functional zero homelessness by 2030. He said that means homelessness in Tulsa will be “rare, brief and nonrecurring.”
Legal Delays to Walters' Bible Rollout
Earlier this week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dealt a temporary victory to petitioners in a lawsuit against State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ classroom Bible mandate. They’ve asked the court for another pause in a new Bible donation program.
The lawsuit was brought by parents, faith leaders and advocacy organizations against Walters and his agency over a mandate to distribute Bibles to Oklahoma classrooms and include them in lessons.
Monday, the high court issued an order to stop the processing of requests for proposals on the classroom Bibles and Biblical instructional materials.
Wednesday, the lawsuit’s petitioners asked the court to intervene again to stop a new initiative by Walters - a donation campaign with singer Lee Greenwood for Trump-endorsed God Bless the USA Bibles to be bought and distributed to Oklahoma classrooms.
According to the filing, the petitioners say the campaign falls under the same scope as the lawsuit’s original ask.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Replacement
Following a history-making removal from the Oklahoma Supreme Court during the November elections, the state is stepping closer to filling an empty justice seat.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Still has until early May to pick a new justice from three nominees.
The Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission has provided Donna L. Dickinson, Travis V. Jett and Jon K. Parsley as potential candidates to replace former justice Yvonne Kauger.
Kauger lost her seat after dark money groups spent over a million dollars on political attack ads against her and two fellow justices. She is the first justice in the state's history to lose her seat.
Dickinson and Parsley serve as district judges for various counties, while Jett is a practicing attorney and has represented various state entities and think tanks.
This could be the last act of Oklahoma’s judicial nominating group. Several bills to dissolve the JNC and give more power to the governor to make judicial appointments are advancing through the legislature.
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