The legal battle has ensnared the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, government of Oklahoma City, state Legislature, Gov. Mary Fallin, Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, several officials from southeastern Oklahoma counties and advocates of water rights in that area. Tensions began in 2010, when the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust, trying to obtain more water for a […]
Clifton Adcock
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Ledger report
Garrett, however, contends the report actually showed the opposite: that the department took steps not to illegally comingle private and public funds in order to pay for its annual leadership conference and other events. The report, released March 7, came about after Superintendent Janet Barresi asked Jones to look into questionable travel expenses by former […]
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Looking ahead
Better Block OKC essentially takes a block or two of underutilized or blighted streetscape and inexpensively transforms that area using art, culture, pop-up businesses and other methods. For example, vendors set up shop in an urban section for a night, while the appearance of the area is transformed with transitory improvements, such as trees, benches […]
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Open books
Last year the city saw unprecedented spending on City Council elections on behalf of independent expenditure groups that attempted to shield their financial backers, a situation made possible by the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case, Federal Election Commission v. Citizens United. The proposal, passed on to council from that body’s legislative committee, supported a state […]
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Fade out
Senate Bill 1623 has made it past the state Senate Finance Committee and is awaiting further action in the Senate. Authored by Sen. Mike Mazzei, R-Tulsa, it would eliminate a number of special tax credits and subsidies in order to compensate for revenue lost by reducing the state’s top marginal income tax rate from 5.25 […]
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Stunning discrepancy
Amnesty issued a Feb. 15 news release to bring attention to the national death toll from Tasers hitting the 500 mark. It indicated OKCPD as being responsible for seven deaths by Taser over the last decade. However, OKCPD Capt. Dexter Nelson said that since 2003 there have been six recorded deaths that occurred after a […]
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Primary prepping
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich visited Tulsa and Oklahoma City on Feb. 20 and addressed the Legislature the following day. Texas Congressman Ron Paul came to Oklahoma City for a Feb. 25 appearance outside the state Capitol. Thus far this campaign season, the state has been visited by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Utah […]
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Drug-testing for dollars
According to the state Department of Human Services, 3,922 adults and 17,233 children received TANF funds in January. Most of those households are single-parent homes with low or no earned income, and the maximum time a person can receive TANF is five years over an adult’s lifetime. While only two such measures were introduced in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Leap into action
Every four years, February earns an extra day on the calendar due to the moon cycles or black magic or something — we’re not sure. But we do know this gives you 24 extra hours to get out and do something different in this great state of ours. Whether today or sometime before New Year’s […]
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Lawn games
Bicentennial Park, located west of Walker Avenue between City Hall and the Civic Center Music Hall, is home to several memorials and statues commemorating historic individuals including Wiley Post and Stanley Draper, and events such as the state centennial. In January, the city’s Downtown Design Review Committee (DDRC) was presented with a plan to make […]