The younger generation has grown up with a mentality that you can take a pill for anything and be OK, said Mary Arbuckle, director of Other Options Inc., an organization that helps provide or locate resources to help those with HIV/AIDS. “It’s getting really scary,” Arbuckle said. She said her organization is seeing an influx […]
Carol Cole-Frowe
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The MAPS 3 trails addition doesn’t quite add up
Many Oklahoma City residents who voted for the $777 million in MAPS 3 projects apparently thought the newest MAPS would complete the 1997 Oklahoma City Trails Master Plan. Not quite. MAPS 3 designates $40 million for 57 miles of trails and will bring the city’s trail total up to about 140 miles, connecting most of […]
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Many legislators paid lip service to going ‘green,’ but did they actually do anything?
Oklahoma legislators may talk a “green” game, but when it came to passing legislation, it was a mixed bag. Bud Scott, executive director and lobbyist for the Oklahoma chapter of Sierra Club, said the irony is that the last two sessions, there was a constant drumbeat in the Legislature that the state needed to be […]
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Funding gap could cause American Indian Cultural Center & Museum construction to stop in six months
The Oklahoma Legislature ” by doing nothing ” could have created a very expensive “gap.” Time ran out last month on the Oklahoma legislative session without a vote on $43 million in revenue bonds to continue construction on the American Indian Cultural Center & Museum. And it left those who have been working on building […]
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The annual Oklahoma Sustainability Network conference will focus on greening the state
Change one structure to make it more energy-efficient and you save money. But change a bunch of structures in cities and towns across Oklahoma to make them more energy-efficient and you save boatloads of money, like an estimated $59 million in energy costs by 2020. The ninth annual Oklahoma Sustainability Conference will explore the newest […]
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Norman receives national press as great
There’s no question that Norman has the sort of momentum that most cities covet. One of the most visible ways it’s manifested itself is landing on lists compiled by national publications. But Norman leaders got one of their bigger surprises last fall when the city was named to the 2009 edition of “11 Great Places […]
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Energy audits of existing homes can save money and resources
Trey Parsons wants to show, not just tell. Parsons, of Oklahoma City’s Enersolve, along with his partners, decided to purchase a 1923 home in northwest Oklahoma City that usually would be considered an energy-efficiency disaster. Instead, they intend for it to be a teaching tool. Parsons asserts that he can save 30 to 40 percent […]
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Cool roofs are a new way to cut into those sky-high summer electricity bills
Replacing a “hot roof” on a commercial building or residence is getting to be one of the coolest ways to reduce the summer’s sky-high electric bills. Cool roofs reflect sunlight and heat away from a building and reduce roof temperatures up to 50 to 60 degrees compared with conventional materials, reducing the “heat island” effect, […]
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Oklahoma City receives $5.4 million in stimulus funds to ‘green’ the city
Oklahoma City’s new director of sustainability Autumn Radle just got really, really busy. She found out April 6 that $5.4 million in federal stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were released to propel Oklahoma City into a more energy-efficient future. “It will be really crazy when the money shows up,” Radle said. […]
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Conservation easements set to preserve Okie paradise from becoming parking lots
John D. Potts remembers when he was very young and driving in the dairy cows to be milked at the independent, family- owned Potts Dairy south of the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman. “When a person grows up with the land, you come to appreciate what it was,” said Potts, reminiscing about the large trees […]