Medical marijuana activists were dealt a blow when the Oklahoma State Board of Health added amendments not written in the final draft of emergency regulations submitted to the board. A pair of amendments — one banning smokable marijuana, which appears to be on shaky legal ground, and another requiring dispensaries to hire full-time pharmacists — […]
Mary Fallin
Posted inNews
Primary preview
It is not difficult to find something to get excited about this primary season in Oklahoma. With a major state question in play, a logjam of candidates in the gubernatorial primaries, numerous state House and Senate seat openings and remnants of political tension from the April teacher walkout underscoring it all, intrigue is not lacking […]
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Complex mandate
In January, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), with encouragement from the White House, announced that it would allow states to mandate work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients to receive benefits and released guidelines for how those mandates should look. Four months later, Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill that requires the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bird’s eye
What began as a 4-H project with a local student setting his sights on achieving something memorable is now state law. After researching Oklahoma’s raptors — birds of prey that include eagles, hawks, kites, falcons and owls — Ephraim Bowling, a 10-year-old who lives in Crown Heights, learned that only Idaho recognizes an official raptor. […]
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Stemming the tide
In April 2017, as the opioid crisis continued to ravage Oklahoma, the state’s Attorney General Mike Hunter stood beside two state lawmakers — Sen. AJ Griffin and Rep. Tim Downing — to announce formation of the Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse. Three months later, a federal report issued by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Columbus circled
Oh my! Gov. Mary Fallin is in hot water again with the state’s Native American communities. This time, it has nothing to do with daughter Christina’s photos in a red Plains headdress or mimicking a war dance on the 2014 Norman Music Festival stage. In early May, Fallin vetoed House Bill 2661, proposed by Rep. […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Justice two-step
During the same Legislative session that Oklahoma made advancements on criminal justice reform to reduce the state’s overcrowded prisons; it took another step backwards. Gov. Mary Fallin signed seven criminal justice reform bills — many of which reduced sentences for nonviolent offenders and those convicted of drug possession — in April. Voters asked for many […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Sour Treat
Do you believe that adoption agencies in the state should be allowed to refuse service to same-sex, non-Christian and single-parent households on religious grounds? The state Legislature apparently does. Earlier this month, the House of Representatives voted 56-21 on a bill that would allow faith-based adoption agencies to refuse service to certain would-be […]
Posted inMusic
Nuclear option
He is often called the godfather of alternative rock music, but if a few things go in his favor this year, Tyson Meade could soon be called something very different: United States Congressman. In April, Meade — most known as frontman of the late-1980s and ’90s bands Defenestration and Chainsaw Kittens, which have been cited […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Selfie intimidation
Oklahoma became the latest state to put a roadblock in the way of taking selfies in the voting booth — because why would it want to do anything that attracts young voters to the polls? Gov. Mary Fallin’s first veto of the Legislative session came last week as she nixed a bill sponsored by Rep. […]