Commentary
Rep. Doug Cox
Jane is in the emergency room complaining of stomach pain. This is her third ER visit in two weeks. She is worried about losing her job because of the missed time.

News
Clifton Adcock
The Oklahoma Ethics Commission today voted unanimously to hire Oklahoma City attorney Lee Slater as the agency's new executive director. He replaces Marilyn Hughes, who retired in December after serving in the position since its inception in 1991.

Letters to the Editor
Bob Hanlin
Thank you for publishing Robin Meyers’ commentary (”Loving our guns to death,” Dec. 19, 2012, Oklahoma Gazette) on the gun debate.

Commentary
Kate Richey

For nearly 50 years, Medicaid has provided basic medical care to the poorest and most vulnerable Oklahomans. While Medicaid is the state’s primary safety net health care provider, many of the state’s poor are not currently eligible. The vast majority (93 percent) of those covered now under SoonerCare/Medicaid are children, seniors, disabled adults and pregnant women.

News
Carmel Perez Snyder
Support for state legislation to ban texting while driving is growing, and among some of the very people who would be targeted by such a law: young drivers.

Commentary
Brandon Dutcher
“Media skepticism is selective,” the author and essayist Joseph Sobran once observed. “Lyndon Johnson didn’t meet the ‘adversary press’ when he was pushing the (progressive) Great Society programs: He ran into it when he pursued the (reactionary) war in Vietnam.”

CFN
Gazette staff
It’s that time of year again, when the mundane clashes with the ridiculous and adults become Very Serious People while wearing proverbial clown shoes.

News
Greg Horton
The prerecorded message encourages listeners to dial a number to “hear more about God’s hand in America’s history.” Callers to David Barton’s WallBuilders ministry hear it while on hold. Barton, who holds a religion degree from Oral Roberts University, presents himself as an expert on America’s history, especially as it relates to religion and politics.

News
Brendan Hoover
The fight to legalize medical marijuana in Oklahoma will continue this year, despite recent setbacks. State Sen. Constance Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, the issue’s champion since 2006, has authored two marijuana-related bills this legislative session.

CFN
Gazette staff
“I want to know if you’re aware of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that has a book called ‘The Provider’s Introduction to Substance Abuse Treatment for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Individuals.’ ...They are going around the nation — they just did this here in Oklahoma Dec. 7 — and having conferences about ... continuing education units on those things.